Whatever happens with health care reform, it will be too late to do much good for the Satterfield family of Virgilina.

Last December, Bedford County native Van Brown Satterfield developed a fierce pain in one of her legs, something that didn’t seem related to an injury. She was admitted to South Boston Hospital, where doctors diagnosed an aggressive staph infection and eventually amputated the leg below the knee. Unfortunately, the infection had spread upward, and two more operations had to be performed before Satterfield was finally moved to Lynchburg General Hospital. There, she died in January.

With an infection that virulent, the possibility exists to accumulate scary medical bills in a very short amount of time. So on the heels of the nightmare of Van Satterfield’s diagnosis, the amputations, and her eventual death came the nightmare of massive debt. Satterfield’s husband, Cliff, was pinched out of his job durng the recent recession, and the family lost their insurance in the process. All that’s missing is a politician standing on their front porch talking about “people who fall through the cracks.“

Yet Van Satterfield’s family, friends and neighbors are banking on a truism about generosity—people are more likely to help out when there is a good time connected with it. And food.

Therefore, from 1-10 p.m., the Sedalia Center on Va 122 near Big Island will host five bands (Black Bear Express, Bib Overalls, the Williams Brothers, Long Mountain Grass and Faithridge), stage a motorcycle poker run and dispense lots of barbecue. Admission is $10, all of which goes to the Satterfield family’s medical expenses.