LEWISTON – Brandon Kenney wasn’t alone in thinking of the Lobster Bowl as an All-Star football game first that also just happened to be for a good cause.

After watching Timmy Kelly’s inspirational story on film, then hearing the 14-year-old croon what will go down as the definitive, and likely the only, version of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” ever performed in the Kora Temple on Sabattus Street, Kenney and a crowd of about 400 other Lobster Bowl participants and their families knew exactly what the annual football fundraiser was all about.

“I honestly thought it was just an All-Star game before, just a bunch of people coming out to play football,” said Kenney, an offensive tackle from Winthrop who will play for the West in the 19th Lobster Bowl in July. “But now that I’ve been here and heard what they’ve had to tell us, it’s a very important thing to do. It’s amazing how much the Shriners can help them achieve.

The Shriners hospitals helped Kelly, who is from Huntington Valley, Pa., survive being born 26 weeks premature (weighing 1 pound, 15 ounces) with mild cerebral palsy and retinopathy of prematurity (detached retinas in each eye). He survived emergency heart surgery when he was just nine days old, and has been a patient at the Philadelphia Shriners Hospital since he was 18-months old. When he was nine-years-old, he had surgery there that made it easier for him to walk. Like all Shriners patients, his treatment came at no cost to his family.

Kelly was the first blind kindergarten child mainstreamed in a Philadelphia public school and a few years ago discovered a natural singing talent. He befriended Andrea McArdle, the original “Annie” and took voice lessons from her singing coach. He started making public appearances to show off his talent, and has since performed the national anthem at an NFC championship game in Philadelphia and at the White House and appeared on national television numerous times.

“The Shriners Hospital is really great,” Kelly told a rapt audience that gave him three standing ovations amidst rousing renditions of “What a Wonderful World” and “You Had a Bad Day.” “The Shriners do a lot of work for disabled kids. Thanks to the Shriners, I’m up here talking and singing to you.”

In the early days of the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl, players, cheerleaders and coaches used to travel to Springfield, Mass. to see first-hand the work the Shriners hospitals do for children. But patient privacy rules and costs made it necessary for the Shriners to bring the cause to the participants in recent years. at the “team meeting” that kicks off more than three months of fundraising leading up to the game.

Two years ago, Tessie Huntington, a then 17-year-old Litchfield girl, talked about how the Shriners helped her overcome the amputation of her right leg and three fingers as an infant. Last year, Dan Caro, a burn victim with no hands, spoke and showed his talents as a world-class jazz drummer.

The speakers have been such inspirations that participants have gone back to their home towns and raised in the neighborhood of $50,000 over the last two years.

“It’s a great cause,” said Lewiston cheerleader Samantha Tanguay. “I know that if I was a child that needed the Shriners, I would want all the help that I could get, and I’m just really happy to be a part of that and help them raise the money that is necessary to help these kids.”

Last year, the East won the highest scoring game in Lobster Bowl history, 44-27. But the West still holds a big advantage in the series all-time, 14-4. This year’s game will be played on Friday, July 25 at Waterhouse Field in Biddeford. Players will spend the week leading up to the game in training camp at Hebron Academy. The cheerleaders spend the week at Central Maine Community College.

Tickets will be $10 reserved and $8 general admission.