On Wednesday April 26th JR Cigars in Clayton Missouri is hosting its 21th annual cigar dinner for the BackStoppers at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis.
This year’s dinner will have over 300 in attendance and feature cigars from the Foundation Cigar Company. Foundation’s president and owner Nicholas Melillo will be in attendance and has created a special cigar to honor the event. The cigar dinner in 2022 raised over $100,000 for the BackStoppers.
“This is an amazing dinner for a great cause. Wally Pankowski asked me 2 years ago if I would attend and I didn’t hesitate. We have a special blend for the event and the full Foundation portfolio along with some event only treats.” Said Nicholas Melillo, owner of Foundation Cigars.
The Backstoppers cigar is a special 6 x 52 Toro with a Ecuador Habano Wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers and binder. The cigars will be offered to attendees in 10 boxes.
The BackStoppers provides ongoing needed financial assistance and support to the spouses and dependent children of all police officers, firefighters and volunteer firefighters, and publicly funded paramedics and EMTs in our coverage area who have lost their lives in the line of duty. In addition to BackStoppers mission of supporting the families of fallen heroes, BackStoppers provides assistance to first responders who suffer a catastrophic injury performing their duty. The BackStoppers supports families of fallen heroes by paying off all debt, providing health and dental insurance, reimbursing for out-of-pocket medical expenses, covering tuition and educational costs from day care through university, and assisting with miscellaneous extraordinary expenses. Currently, BackStoppers supports approximately 95 families with approximately 70 dependent children and provides roughly $2.5 million in assistance annually.
