Jaime Ervin has volunteered for Main Street Studios.

Main Street Studios in Downtown Fredonia has been entertaining the local community for a few years now, in a renovated warehouse that once belonged to the Card Seed Co. This coming weekend, the studio members are asking the community to come together to support one of their own who has been diagnosed with Cancer.

Jaime Ervin is a former elementary school teacher, who now works as an attorney for an architect and engineering firm. Her real passion, however, is spending time with her children, Katelyn and Brynn, and her community theater family.

Ervin volunteers a great deal of time with Main Street Studios to bring the arts alive for the Fredonia community. She recently performed in Main Street’s productions of “Macbeth,” “Clue,” and “Christmas Carol,” directed “Daddy Longlegs” this previous fall, and serves as the Assistant Managing Director of the Main Street Community Theatre project. One of her favorite parts of the year is helping with Playground summer camp productions. Ervin has also volunteered the past two years as a political instructor at the American Legion Auxiliary’s Girls State program. Prior to her diagnosis, Ervin was an avid hiker and traveler.

Her cancer was diagnosed after she found a lump during a self-exam. The mass turned out to be triple negative breast cancer, a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer with high recurrence rates. Her scans also revealed a rare, but usually benign, spinal tumor called a schwannoma, leading Ervin to seek care at Cleveland Clinic.

Triple-negative breast cancer’s name comes from the fact that its cells lack the three receptors — estrogen, progesterone, and a protein called HER2 — found in most other breast cancer types. Without the ability to target these receptors, fewer treatment options exist other than chemotherapy. Ervin will receive 16 rounds of chemotherapy over six months, followed by surgery and radiation therapy. She will also receive a year of immunotherapy, and potentially additional chemotherapy after radiation if needed. Her treatment is expected to take at least a year.

“I had no idea when this first happened that I would be on this treatment regimen for a year,” Ervin said. “It’s a little intimidating that life can’t just return to normal, but I’m trying to find joy in every day. I am thankful for my kids, my partner, and my friends who have stepped up every day to help get through this process.”

This event is a chili cook-off fundraiser to support Jaime, and it will be from 3 to 6 p.m. on Sunday at Main Street Studios, 50 W. Main St., Fredonia, and the public is warmly invited to enter a chili of their own creation, or come and sample, and choose your favorite.

The entry fee to submit chili is $10, and includes event admission. General admission tickets are $20 for adults, $5 children and includes chili samples, voting ballot, a drink, and crackers.

There will be a chili-themed prize for the winning entry in each of three categories (vegetarian chili, chili con carne (meat), and non-traditional chili). Winners will be determined by experienced culinary judges, with one additional prize for People’s Choice.

There will be games, a costume photo booth, baked goods available for purchase, and live music performed by Kathy Peterson and Friends!

The website to sign up to submit chili entries is tinyurl.com/3a676647

Presale tickets (recommended) to attend may be purchased at https://tinyurl.com/4ayjejt4 Tickets will also be available at the door.