Blue Starr’s commitment to John ‘Tweeka’ Barber motivates her to help those battling cancer

Orlando – When Blue Starr was a child, she took dancing to help her combat a disability that caused her legs to turn in at the hips. It became her calling, and Blue has performed in front of crowds from New York to Atlanta to Orlando.

Today, her name is famous in Orlando’s LGBT community, living and being an active member of the community for well over 10 years. She has performed in, directed, produced and created countless shows in Central Florida, most notably VarieTEASE, Peek-a-Boo Lounge, Ladies of Eola Heights and Southern Nights.

But perhaps her biggest accomplishment is the work she’s done to create a long-lasting legacy of her friend, John “Tweeka” Barber, who passed way in 2011 from cancer.

The Barber Fund helps those battling cancer pay for a variety of things—mortgages, power bills, medical bills, phone bills, groceries—and even helps families with pet sitting during a loved one’s illness. In 2014, under Blue’s leadership, the Fund hit a remarkable milestone – 501c3 status, meaning it is officially classified as a nonprofit and organizations can claim donations as tax-deductible.

“We created the fund when Tweeks was still sick,” Blue recalls. “He wanted to be able to continue to help people and I thought it was a way to allow him to live on and continue his legacy. I think the thing about the foundation is that we’re just trying to help people live with cancer a little easier. We aren’t trying to cure cancer. We want to help families and caregivers and help them with therapy and treatment. It’s a really hard situation for anyone to have to go through, so we just want to make it easier for them.”

Barber and Blue met 22 years ago in Atlanta, where Barber worked as a drag entertainer. The two grew close and were inseparable until his death on Oct. 17, 2011.

“We performed there, threw parties together and most importantly did a lot of fundraisers together,” she says. “John was a philanthropist at heart and loved politics. He was extremely smart and had one of the biggest hearts I had ever seen, even though he would drive you crazy getting to see it.”

Barber died just one year after his cancer diagnosis. The disease spread very quickly despite intense treatment and chemotherapy.

“The day he went out of town to get some expert opinions and found out that there was nothing they could do was awful,” Blue says. “He called me and said those exact words to me, and I said, ‘Ok. Well, let’s do our best. We got this.’ I hung up the phone and fell to the floor and cried¬—sobbed in fact. Not only was I helping his family take care of him, but I was taking care of his Orlando family he had built around him. And let me tell you, that was like the whole city, including the Mayor and his wife. Oh, how he loved Karen Dyer.”

Through the Barber Foundation, Blue says nine people living with cancer have been assisted financially. She says the organization has grown, with fundraisers scheduled in Jacksonville and out of state.

“We like to step a little outside of the box with our fundraisers,” she says. “Our fundraisers are ridiculous. We have a good time and make light of a bad situation. I always say, ‘The answer is yes.’ Can we do it? ‘Yes.”

Blue raises money for The Barber Fund through performances. She also partners with Come Out With Pride, Southern Nights and Comedy Queen. At COWP in October, she manned a beer tub and raised $1,400 for The Barber Fund.

When she isn’t fundraising, Blue is running The Venue, her own performing arts center in Ivanhoe Village. Many of the shows housed in The Venue give partial proceeds to The Barber Fund.

“I have always wanted to open my own place since I moved here. Timing and focus just played a great part in that, but I will say, Tweeks set me up in the respect that people could see who I really was and not just a dancer at Southern Nights, Bingo Lady and Peek-a-Boo Lounge,” Blue says.

Blue says that the thing she is most proud of is the rekindling of her and her family’s relationship. When she came to her family, they were devastated.

“It took 10 years for us to start getting back on track,” she says. “All I wanted was for them to be a part of my life and be proud of me. I speak with them once or twice a day and they love my friends so much, gay or straight. It means everything to me, especially now since my father is very sick with stage-4 Colon Cancer. I am soaking up every minute, and I am so happy to have time to hear my dad’s words of wisdom everyday. Thank goodness I am not spending this time trying to get him to love me for who I am. We can just be, and it makes me sad and happy. Cancer sucks.”

To learn more about The Barber Fund or to donate, visit TheBarberFund.org.

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