By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

WHAT: Benefit lawn sale

WHEN: Starting Friday, Aug. 12; ending date contingent on merchandise availability

WHERE: 196 Phillips Road, Route 4, Strong

WHY: Benefit for Marc and Mary Lou Carrier of Strong

Strong pulls together for needy

STRONG – When one of Strong’s residents gets direly ill, Mary White helps out the only way she knows how – she holds a lawn sale.

Three years ago, Colleen and Chris Bate’s toddler, Colby, was diagnosed with leukemia. The family spent months traveling and staying in Lewiston, Portland and Boston while trying to maintain their home in Strong. Colby, unfortunately, died at the age of 9 months due to complications of a bone marrow transplant in May 2002. The Bates are both self-employed, so while Colby received treatments, there was little to no income.

The bills began to pile up.

“We knew there was nothing we could do for Colby,” White said Monday while sitting in her orderly kitchen. So she did the next-best thing.

White’s lawn sale raised $1,001 for Colby’s family, which couldn’t afford their bills, Colleen Bate said Monday at White’s kitchen table. The medical bills were mostly covered by insurance, but being away from home with little income put them behind in their utility bills, car payments, mortgage and other regular monthly bills.

White’s sale was not the only source of donations for the family – they received anonymous donations from a woman in Colorado who sent them a $50 check almost monthly and a $1,000 deposit to their bank account. Nearly $3,300 was collected to help them.

Colleen Bate later learned that the Colorado woman was a former resident of Strong.

“This community is one of a kind,” Bate said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. This community is one of the best I know.”

“We do pull together,” White agreed.

Bate said White has influenced her. She now participates in the Relay for Life and makes blankets for hospitalized children.

“It’s not about me, it’s about the community,” White said. “I could not do it without community help.”

“But you’ve got the ball rolling,” argued Lisa Berry, also sitting at White’s table Monday. Berry is coordinating a spaghetti supper for this year’s recipient family on behalf the North Franklin Snowmobile Club.

She hopes to raise more than $2,000 at the supper in September and more with a raffle for Marc and Betty Lou Carrier.

Marc Carrier, a logger, was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and faces at least 13 weeks of treatments and recovery. Proceeds from the lawn sale will also go to the Carrier family. White hopes to top her best of $3,200.

And the money, as much as it assists, is not the only thing that helps families struggling with life-threatening diseases.

It lets them know “there’s a lot of people who care about you,” Colleen said.

White declined to say how much time she puts into the sales – this is at least her seventh. But she and her husband, Steve, have driven as far as Greenwood to pick up donated items and has made three trips in the last several weeks to the Lewiston area, too.

“It’s so rewarding,” she said. “How much effort is there to doing something nice for someone?” she added.

Donations for the lawn sale may be dropped off at White’s garage at 196 Phillips Road, Route 4, in Strong. Checks for the Carrier family should be payable to the Carriers and sent in care of Mary White, P.O. Box 140, Strong, ME 04983.