Accident survivor hopes to raise funds to send message about drunk driving

Jan 3, 2024 | Published from Sun Journal Reporter

Brittany Cass, the survivor of a head-on drunk driving accident, stands with New Bern Police Chief Patrick Gallagher. Cass’s nonprofit, Bold Like Britt, will hold a fundraiser this weekend to raise money for a billboard near the site of her wreck

Sun Journal Reporter

A New Bern woman involved in a nearly fatal auto accident last year is teaming up with a local restaurant to raise money and awareness to combat drunk driving.

On Saturday, Feb. 4 the nonprofit Bold Like Britt and Chipotle restaurant, located at 2999 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in New Bern, will hold the Do Good with Chipotle fundraiser. The event lasts from 4-8 p.m. and will raise money for a ‘don’t drink and drive’ billboard on U.S. 70.

 

To participate, customers simply have to mention that they are taking part in the fundraiser and 33% of their purchase price will go towards the cause. Customers ordering online can use the code ZHVHEFX to participate.

Bold Like Britt was founded by James City resident Brittany Cass following a Jan. 4, 2022 wreck on U.S. 70 in Newport when she was hit head on by a drunk driver. The violent collision broke both of Cass’s femurs and left hip and shattered her right knee. She suffered several mini strokes before being airlifted to Vidant Medical Center for life saving abdominal surgery.

Cass would spend six days in a coma before waking up to the devastating reality of her injuries. In the year since the wreck, Cass, who was once a 40-mile-per-week runner, has had a total of seven surgeries and is still undergoing rigorous physical therapy as she relearns how to walk.

Despite the challenges, the mother of three said she is determined to get her life back.

 

“The last surgery was in September,” she said. “They cut open my right thigh and extended the quad muscle and put a new rod in my thigh and put me back together. Now I’m learning how to rewalk properly.”

Cass said she formed Bold Like Britt last summer to help educate others on the dangers of drunk driving. The nonprofit held a 5K & 1 Mile Fun Run fundraiser last September at Martin Marietta Park and donated $10,000 to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

Cass said she now hopes to raise enough from Saturday’s event to put up a billboard in Carteret near the site of her crash.

“I’m working with a MADD representative in North Carolina to get billboards up all over, in Charlotte, Raleigh and then here in cities in eastern North Carolina,” she explained. “So I’m trying to come up with enough funds for my own so I can put what I want on it. The goal is to have it up for a year.”

Cass said she is grateful for the growth she has experienced since the wreck. She said she and her family have been overwhelmed by the “outpouring of love and service given us in our time of need.”

“We would like to pay it forward and hopefully bring awareness so this won’t happen to anybody else, because it’s 100% preventable,” she commented.