Big City Diner has hired employees who are homeless, have physical and mental disabilities and who have come right out of prison, but until today has never put together a fundraising effort involving all five Big City Diners to help a single employee.

So Big City Diner officials aren’t sure what kind of reception to expect today, and again on June 18, when 20 percent of many customers’ bills will benefit a former dishwasher with a brain tumor who lost her health benefits this year because she was unable to work the minimum 20 hours a week to qualify.

Big City Diner’s Kailua restaurant, where 23-year-old Mela­rie Templo used to work, will donate 20 percent of the day’s sales from today and June 18 toward Templo’s medical bills. The company’s four other restaurants, all on Oahu, will donate 20 percent of proceeds from patrons who bring in a flier (see box).

"Our goal is to raise $10,000, which right now won’t even cover" Templo’s medical expenses, said Walter Enriquez Jr., Big City Diner vice president of operations and marketing. "Obviously we’d love to exceed the goal."

In December, almost a year after her father died, Templo was diagnosed with an astroblastoma tumor in her head.

She had gone to Straub Clinic & Hospital’s emergency room after the left side of her body began to go weak.

"First it was my leg, then it went up to my arm," Templo said. "They did a CT scan, and that’s when they found a mass on the right side of my brain. It’s a cancerous brain tumor and sometimes I have headaches. When I take my chemo pills, then I’m fatigued and nauseated so I can’t do anything."

Templo’s mother, Marie, hasn’t even dared to add up all of the medical costs so far.

"She has no insurance, but all the time she’s been in and out of the hospital," Marie Templo said. "There’s radiation treatment, emergency rooms and ambulances — they all cost money. It’s too much."

Melarie Templo lives in Kalihi with her mother, who works two restaurant jobs.

Two years ago, Marie Templo began working as a prep cook for the Kailua Big City Diner and suggested that Mela­rie, one of her three daughters, apply for a job there, too.

Melarie Templo began working as a dishwasher last summer and, like her mother, was considered a good worker.

"But because of her medical condition, she was working less than 20 hours per week (after December) and lost her medical insurance through us," Enriquez said. "It’s the first time it’s ever happened that we’ve had an employee with a deadly disease lose their insurance."

So today the restaurants and 360 employees will be thinking of one former employee who’s fighting to stay alive and struggling to keep up with her medical costs.

The fundraiser is part of owner Lane Mura­oka’s philosophy of helping his employees, said Mark Naka­shima, general manager of the Kailua restaurant.

In 2000, Muraoka’s Big City Diner was named Employer of the Year by the state Department of Human Resources’ Vocational Rehabilitation and Services for the Blind Division. That same year, a Big City Diner employee was also named Employee of the Year by the Vocational Rehabilitation and Services for the Blind Division.

"Lane has always been one to help out somebody in need," Naka­shima said. "A lot of times no one gives them a shot. Lane’s always been willing to give people a shot."

While Templo hopes to feel well enough to visit the Kailua restaurant today, her mother won’t be able to see the turnout to benefit her daughter until her shift ends at 2 p.m.

"I’ll be busy because I have to do my prep work," Marie Templo said.

Whether she can show up today, Mela­rie Templo said she’s grateful to her former co-workers and bosses.

"I’m very thankful for what they’re doing," she said.