If you added up all the money Bruce Winter has raised for Kansas City charities over five decades no doubt there would be a lot of numbers in that total.<\/p>\n
He did it as his drag persona Melinda Ryder, a star on the local drag scene who has entertained Kansas City audiences for a remarkable 51 years.<\/p>\n
Regulars at Hamburger Mary\u2019s know the city\u2019s \u201coriginal redhead\u201d for hosting Thursday night charity bingo which raises thousands of dollars for different causes every week.<\/p>\n
Now Winter, who turned 70 in March, is in need of assistance himself and is about to get some big-name help.<\/p>\n
The three-time cancer survivor was diagnosed with cancer again in March. He was transferred this week to a Kansas City rehab center after nearly a month in the hospital.<\/p>\n
Bruce Winter, who has entertained Kansas City audiences for 51 years as drag entertainer Melinda Ryder.<\/p>\n
(Instagram\/Melinda Ryder)<\/span><\/div>\n Last month more than 20 local drag entertainers put on a show to raise money for his medical bills. One of Winter\u2019s friends, who happens to be one of Broadway\u2019s original \u201cDreamgirls,\u201d singer Jennifer Holliday, heard about the fundraiser.<\/p>\n \u201cShe knew Missie B\u2019s had done a big benefit. She said \u2018I need to come to Kansas City and do a show,\u2019\u201d Winter\u2019s husband, Kirk Nelson, told The Star.<\/p>\n The Tony and Grammy winner will appear in an evening of conversation and music<\/a> at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Hamburger Mary\u2019s. All proceeds go to Winter for his medical expenses. Kansas City entertainment journalist Michael Mackie will host.<\/p>\n Filmmaker John McCrite is making a documentary about Melinda Ryder\u2019s career that will show behind the scenes of this latest health struggle. McCrite is known for the 2024 documentary \u201cPink Belt\u201d that followed Aparna Rajawat, India\u2019s 16-time national martial arts champion.<\/p>\n Holliday is currently criss-crossing the country celebrating the 45th anniversary of \u201cDreamgirls.\u201d which debuted on Broadway in December 1981.<\/p>\n She was 21 when she won a Tony for her performance as Dreamgirl Effie White, who sings the showstopping song, \u201cAnd I Am Telling You I\u2019m Not Going.\u201d<\/p>\n Holliday met Winter several years ago while she in town for KC Pride events.<\/p>\n Winter went through six months of chemotherapy after his first cancer diagnosis of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2002. During treatments he continued to perform and work at his day job at NKC Health Hospita<\/a>l, formerly North Kansas City Hospital.<\/p>\n He was in remission for about two and a half years before the cancer returned, Nelson said, necessitating an excruciating stem cell transplant that put him in quarantine for nine months afterward.<\/p>\n The cancer came back a year later. Another stem cell transplant. Nine more months of quarantine followed a lengthy hospital stay, which meant no work, no shows.<\/p>\n \u201cThen he got well,\u201d said Nelson. \u201cAnd it\u2019s been 21 years since the second transplant. So he\u2019s been good. Then this started up.\u201d<\/p>\n Bruce Winter as Melinda Ryder.<\/p>\n (Instagram\/Melinda Ryer)<\/span><\/div>\n Last year The Museum of Kansas City marked Melinda Ryder\u2019s 50-year drag career with an exhibit<\/a> of her costumes, photographs and other memorabilia. It paid homage to Winter\u2019s skill as a female impersonator and years of philanthropic work and advocacy on behalf of Kansas City\u2019s LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n The exhibit was called \u201cArrive As A Star, Leave As A Star.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n