Photo courtesy of Greg Devereaux Elvis tribute artist Tim ‘E’ entertained recently at Avera Marshall Foundation’s “Night with Elvis” event.

MARSHALL — People attending Avera Marshall Foundation “Night with Elvis” recently had reasons to celebrate. Not only was Elvis in the building, but funds were being raised for future cancer patients seeking local treatment.

“Approximately 450 people attended the event, which raised funds for local cancer care at Avera Cancer Institute Marshall,” said Stacy Neubeck, communications and public relations coordinator for Avera Marshall. “Avera opened this facility three years ago with significant support from individuals and businesses in the region. The Avera Marshall Foundation continues to raise funds to maintain and enhance cancer care services.”

Neubeck said to date, Avera Cancer Institute Marshall has provided more than 6,000 infusion treatments, 5,700 radiation treatments and nearly 3,000 office visits for medical oncology.

“Having this level of care keeps patients and families close to home for care, significantly reducing travel time and cost,” she said. “As an example, a woman with breast cancer from Marshall needing radiation would have traveled more than 5,500 total miles if she needed to go to Sioux Falls (South Dakota) for her care. A man with prostate cancer would have needed to travel more than 7,000 miles going back and forth for care.”

The Avera Marshall Foundation “Night with Elvis” took place on Saturday at the Red Baron Arena & Expo. Headlining the event was Tim ‘E,’ an international award-winning Elvis tribute artist.

“He was backed by the EAS Band from Chicago and local musicians, the Southwest HornMeN: Brad Louwagie, Vaughn Gehle and Ross Anderson,” Neubeck said. “Together they entertained the crowd with popular Elvis songs like ‘Return to Sender,’ ‘Don’t be Cruel,’ ‘Love Me Tender,’ ‘Viva Las Vegas,’ ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ ‘Memories,’ ‘Burnin Love,’ ‘Blue Suede Shoes,’ ‘Suspicious Minds,’ ‘How Great Thou Art’ and ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love.'”

Sara and Dave Kraft were among the 450 attendees. Sara Kraft, a pediatric nurse practitioner at Avera Tyler and Avera Marshall, said she thought it was a really fun, yet meaningful event.

“The biggest thing was that it was great to see the community come together and support something like the Cancer Center and a lot of people being able to have fun together,” Kraft said. “It was a really good event. It was well planned out.”

Kraft said that there were various areas that people could sit and stand during the event.

“They had couches up by the stage, and that’s where some people sat to enjoy the concert,” she said. “I’d never seen that before, so it was pretty cool. They also had tables set up — you had to be a VIP to be on the couches or at the tables. Behind that was general seating.”

Kraft said it was good to see the people who oftentimes take care of people in the community have a relaxing and enjoyable evening.

“There are people who are always there for everybody else, but there’s a point where you need to take care of yourself, too,” Kraft said. “Avera is good about expressing that you need to take care of yourself so you’re able to take care of others.”

The importance of supporting cancer care rose to an even higher level as someone close to the Krafts was recently diagnosed with cancer.

“It’s so meaningful to support cancer care,” Sara Kraft said. “It’s such a shock to the family to have cancer, so to be able to do cancer care in Marshall is wild. Cancer will affect everyone’s family at some point. (The person close to us) was able to do all of his cancer treatment in Marshall. He saved a lot of money and time not having to run to the Mayo Clinic. The Cancer Center is very necessary for the community.”