Fundraiser Tuesday night for Kidneys for Kindness, founded to support organ donors

LACONIA — Most healthy humans are walking around with a lifesaving gift inside them in the form of a kidney. Agreeing to give it to someone else is a heavy decision, though, and a new local organization, Kidneys for Kindness, is trying to make that decision easier.

Kidneys for Kindness was founded in 2023 by Kelly Dyer of Alton Bay, after her own experience of kidney donation. Reuben Bassett, an entrepreneur, realized the need for such an organization last year, as he was recovering from his own kidney donation.

Both Dyer and Bassett have learned there are many more people affected by kidney disease and kidney donation than they previously realized, including one of the brewers at Kettlehead Brewing. As a result, Bassett is planning a fundraiser at Local Eatery, one of his businesses, to benefit the organization.

The fundraiser is being held on Tuesday, Oct. 22. During dinner service that evening, a portion of all restaurant sales, and all proceeds from the sale of Kettlehead’s “One Bean Fight Club” IPA, will be donated to Kidneys for Kindness.

Local Eatery will continue to serve any remaining “One Bean Fight Club” afterward, and proceeds will be donated as well.

A mom in need

Dyer, an agent with New York Life Insurance Company, donated a kidney 2.5 years ago to another agent in the company. Dyer is a mother, and said she was moved to donate when she learned the woman in need had a toddler at home. The woman was on dialysis at the time, and without a kidney would likely not be around today, Dyer said.

Giving her kidney not only saved the life of the recipient, it also tremendously affected the young child. The process wasn’t easy, though.

“While I was recovering, which was a lengthy, hard recovery, I decided to start Kidneys for Kindness,” Dyer recounted.

The organization is dedicated to twin missions: Raising awareness of the need for kidney donations, and making kidney donation more possible for donors.

Donating a kidney is an ordeal. Recovery from surgery is six to eight weeks, with months of testing before the operation as well. Dyer said her donation took a total of 8.5 months.

Donating a kidney could save someone’s life, but it’s not a choice everyone could make even if they’re found to be a perfect match. Kidneys for Kindness aims to make that choice possible through financial grants.

“All of our money goes directly to kidney donors,” Dyer said, noting her organization recently made two grants, each to a person who donated a kidney to their spouse. “If you think of a mom and dad with kids, they’re both out of commission,” Dyer said.

Bassett gave his kidney to a friend. He’s been reluctant to talk publicly about it, but said he’s starting to get over that reluctance in order to help others facing the same decision.

He said he knew his friend needed a kidney, and had been thinking about donating. “Once he was on the [organ donation] list, it was like, 'Alright, why don’t we see if I’m a match?' and go from there,” Bassett said.

He knew the surgery would require several weeks of recovery, and it turned out to be just that. “It was challenging but not more than what you’d expect from a surgery like that,” he said.

Bassett, who wasn’t in a position to need financial assistance, said he had time during his recovery to reflect on how important such help could be.

“I was in a fortunate situation,” he said, in that he was able to take significant amount of time away from work without suffering financial harm, and his wife was able to help as he needed. “Imagine people going through that who weren’t in our situations.”

Both Bassett and Dyer said since they’ve started sharing their stories, they’ve met many people who have been affected by kidney disease in some way. Dyer said there are around 106,000 people currently awaiting an organ transplant in the U.S., “and 92% of them are waiting for a kidney.”

The event Tuesday night at Local Eatery is aimed at removing a few names from the long list of people whose continued life requires someone to volunteer their kidney.

“Kettlehead and Kidneys for Kindness picked up this thing and ran with it,” Bassett said. “We figured, let’s jump in because of our relationship with both and let’s see what we can do.”