Steve and Karen Brackett, proprietors of King Ro Market and The Ro in Round Pond, stand in front of a wall in the pub autographed by hundreds of patrons. The couple said they are touched and appreciative of the all support they have been received since Steve’s diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, in August 2025. Fundraising efforts have raised more than $50,000 to date. (Sherwood Olin photo)
The Round Pond community turned out in force for Steve Brackett on Saturday, Feb. 21, crowding into the former Odd Fellows Hall in the heart of the village for a luncheon fundraiser that raised more than $5,000 for the local businessman.
Jointly organized by the Helping Hands of Round Pond and the Friends of the Mariner Lodge, the event featured various chilis, salads, and sides all made and donated by volunteers to raise funds for Brackett, who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in August 2025.
Known alternatively as Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS is a degenerative disorder that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control. The disease is progressive and currently incurable.
According to Helping Hands of Round Pond organizer Rachel Goodrich, more than 100 people filed the through the cozy environs of the hall, now known as Mariner Lodge, during the fundraising luncheon.
“Over 100 people came through in two hours,” Goodrich said. “We raised over $5,300. It’s a tiny space and everybody was just so wonderful to be there. We had volunteers that provided all the chili, all the fixings, all the salads, all the desserts. So it was truly all donations.”
The funds will be combined with donations from a GoFundMe set up on Brackett’s behalf by the Friends of Steve Brackett. At present, the page has raised $45,297 toward a $125,000 goal.
It is all a bit much for an independent, perpetually active man who is more accustomed to doing for others than having others do for him. Brackett and his wife Karen Bracket both said they are deeply touched by the outpouring of support.
The support is part of a community embrace Steve and Karen Brackett have enjoyed every since Steve bought the then-shuttered King Ro Market and leased the building in late 2023. Brackett opened The Ro, a pub-style restaurant in a renovated area attached to the market early in 2024.
The current business is the latest iteration of a series of retail businesses that occupied the building at 1414 Route 32 in Round Pond for more than 150 years.
A place for ad hoc community groups to meet, The Ro offers pub food, game nights, amateur and professional musical performances and it is the only gathering place on the Bristol peninsula that is open year-round. The result is community hotspot where locals are almost guaranteed to run into someone they know virtually every time they stop in.
Almost everyone who stops in at The Ro knows Steve Brackett. Brackett, a bookkeeper by trade who purchased the business with no retail or restaurant experience, said the business has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. He still hasn’t drawn a paycheck for his efforts, he said, but The Ro is in a good place for a restaurant in its second year.
Friends and neighbors crowd into the Mariners Lodge, the former Odd Fellows Hall, in Round Pond on Saturday Feb. 21 for a chili fundraiser for Round Pond resident Steve Brackett. Co organized by the Friends of Mariners Lodge and the Helping Hands of Round Pond, the event raised more than $5,300 to offset medical expenses. (Photo courtesy Rachel Goodrich)
The funds being raised on his behalf are desperately needed and will be used to help cover medical expenses, adaptive equipment, home modifications, transportation costs, and loss of income, but Steve Brackett said The Ro could really use some donated skills. Brackett said he is willing to barter food and beverages for some carpentry or plumbing skills.
Brackett said he had plans to expand the seating area and possibly add a deck for outside dining. He was planning to do much of the work himself, he said, but those plans are on hold for now.
Brackett said he first noticed he was having difficulty manipulating his left hand, his dominant hand, early last summer. He worked with it all summer long while managing a full-time cook’s schedule in the kitchen. Brackett said he did notice he was routinely dropping dishes, sometimes to the amusement of his teasing coworkers and his patrons in the dining area who could hear his commentary on the matter from The Ro’s open kitchen.
At first, it was thought he had carpal tunnel syndrome and then tendinitis. It was finally a trip to specialists in Scarborough where he was diagnosed. He has since enrolled in the care of Dr. John Taylor at MaineHealth’s ALS Specialty Care unit in Brunswick.
While Brackett currently requires little support, he has completed all of the prescreening requirements to qualify for the range of therapies he may eventually need.
At the moment, Brackett said he feels good and he is in good spirits. Having ALS by itself doesn’t hurt he said, but for some reason he can acutely feel every ache and pain he has ever had. Right now he just wants to sleep more than anything else and getting up is hard he said.
“A lot of people can’t sleep because of it, even though they’re tired,” he said. “I have no problems. My problem now is waking up because sometimes it’s one o’clock in the afternoon and then you know the day is over.”
Still, he makes it into work every day, seven days a week, even though he acknowledges he may not stay long. He’s been told to take it easy. A nurse advised him to treat his daily level of exertion like a $20 bill – if he spends that $20 in the first hour of the day, he’ll have nothing for the rest of the day and the wear and tear is cumulative.
“Nothing regenerates,” Brackett said. “When you use it up, it’s gone. Your motor neurons don’t replace themselves. That’s what ALS is, which is why things stop working.”
“I would say is one of the big lessons we learned this week, or last week, was a nurse said to us that Stephen needs to live with ALS, not die with ALS,” Karen Brackett said
For the moment, plans for The Ro are up in the air, but the Bracketts said the business is not going anywhere. They have invested their life savings in the business, and they both recognize its importance in the local community.
“It’s not going away,” Steve Brackett said. “I don’t think it ever will be. If we end up having to sell the place, we would be finding the right person that would keep it going.”
For more information, go to gofundme.com/f/9qm6nm-help-support-steve-brackett-in-his-battle-with-als.
