About a year after Baltimore resident Zach Sowers died from a street robbery and beating, friends and family of the Johns Hopkins employee plan to hold an event to raise funds for brain trauma research. Proceeds from the March 1 event, called “Give Back for Zach: Neighbors’ Night Out 3,” will be donated to Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Zach Sowers Brain Trauma Research Fund.
“It’s basically to honor the one-year anniversary of Zach’s passing,” said Anna Sowers, Zach’s widow. “Tony Foreman, the owner of Pazo [restaurant], is donating everything: the food, the wine, the servers’ and cooks’ time.”
Sowers, 28, was beaten into a coma during an unprovoked street robbery June 2, 2007, as he walked home at night from the Canton bars. He remained in what doctors call a persistent vegetative state until he died on March 25, 2008.
Parker said the cause was easy to support.
“The quality of life in the city is very important to me,” he said. “It’s an excellent cause.”
Johns Hopkins doctor Mark Mirski, who is charge of the fund, said brain trauma research is desperately needed.
“Funds from this pool will be directed to research efforts devoted to finding better therapies,” he said. “We don’t have magic bullets to treat injury in the brain. The brain is one of the organs in our bodies that is least able to repair itself.”
The fundraiser will take place at Pazo, 1425 Aliceanna St., Baltimore, from 4 to 8 p.m. on March 1. The cost is $75 per person.
Special guests include radio show hosts Ed Norris and Ron Smith as well as former congressman Kweisi Mfume. There also will be a silent auction, including sports memorabilia, golf lessons, teeth whitening, designer clothes and hotel accommodations.
“To me, brain trauma hits very close to the heart,” Sowers said. “This fund will help anything related to brain trauma, seizures, aneurysms. Zach’s name will live on in a really meaningful way and help those who have suffered from brain trauma as well.”
For more information, visit www.zachsowers.com.
