THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996 TAG: 9605010022
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
WHAT WE'VE GOT HERE is a bar-hopping preacher.
I was on the phone with a campus minister at Purdue University wondering how he learned about Brittany - a terminally ill 4-year-old in Virginia Beach who needs a special crib.
The minister is the Rev. Roger Callahan, who persuaded his non-denominational congregation to take a special offering for Brittany. She's been mailed a check for $1,500.
The reverend, from Lafayette, Ind., said he learned about the child because he spent seven nights in a bar while visiting Virginia Beach in January.
``I was at a seminar sponsored by Regent University,'' he said. ``The ministers were urged to get out and mingle with the public. I was assigned to bars.''
Ever been in a bar before, reverend? ``No,'' he replied, ``it was my first time.''
And that's how the reverend and another minister wound up at Tango's Tavern, near Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach. They debated what to wear and settled on flannel shirts and jeans, he said.
And when the waitress took their order?
``We ordered Cokes,'' he replied.
They might as well have run up a red flag on a pole. The Rev. Callahan and his friend attracted attention almost immediately.
``I think they thought we were with the ABC board,'' he said.
Callahan struck up a friendship with the bar's co-owner Mac McPherson.
``I told him I was a minister,'' he recalled.
``That's great,'' McPherson replied. ``I had a brother that used to be a minister.''
Odd thing was that when McPherson identified his brother, the reverend knew all about him. ``He had been a minister for a a campus ministry I started 30 years ago in Cincinnati,'' the reverend said.
Once the ice was broken, the pair agreed that tavern owners and ministers had a lot in common. Deal with all kinds of people. Listen to their problems.
The minister and the tavern owner became friends, exchanging letters and phone calls when Callahan returned to his student ministry. During a sermon at the campus chapel, the minister told his congregation about his bar experiences.
``I told them how scared I'd been to go to that bar,'' he remembered. He even showed them the ball hat with Tango's name on it, given him by McPherson.
In one of his letters to the minister, McPherson told him about a couple who came into the bar to play darts now and then. And about their daughter, Brittany. That's how the collection plates got passed for Brittany at Purdue.
Brittany has an extremely rare disease - Toriello-Carey Syndrome - which means she is missing the connection between the two halves of the brain. The symptoms are retardation, seizures and deafness. Although she is 4 years old, Brittany has the mental capacity of a 9-month-old baby.
Life has been an uphill battle for both Brittany and her parents - Kent and Lynn Garland - since she was born. Now she has grown so large it is impossible to keep her in a regular crib.
Kent Garland - who adopted Brittany when he married her mother, Lynn - has repaired her crib several times because she literally has shaken it to pieces. The parents are afraid she will awaken in the night and harm herself by falling from the crib.
Her parents don't want the child to go to a hospital which has special beds for children like Brittany because they know she can get more love at home.
Kent is a Navy electronics technician. The Navy pays 80 percent of Brittany's medical expenses which - as you've already guessed - are huge. The cost of a special, protective crib designed for children like Brittany is beyond the family's means - nearly $6,000.
If you'd like to help, checks should be made payable to Brittany Lemke and mailed to Tango's Tavern, 4668 Pembroke Blvd., Virginia Beach, Va. 23455.
Tango's is holding a dart and pool tournament and pig pickin' on Sunday to raise money for Brittany. And McPherson's pals at Captain Carl's Seafood Saloon on South Plaza Trail at the Beach will hold an auction on Friday to benefit Brittany, too.
When I told the Rev. Callahan about the good work MacPherson and his friends were doing here in Virginia Beach, he didn't sound surprised.
``Mac's that kind of guy. . . a real care-giver,'' the reverend said. < ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Beth Bergman\The Virginian-Pilot
Brittany with parents, Kent and Lynn Garland, and sister Alexis
by CNB