LEWISTON – Hundreds of people battled power outages and drenching rain Saturday night to get a taste of Mama Baldacci’s famous sauce at a fundraiser held at Lewiston High School.

Maj. Amanda Russell of the Junior ROTC estimated that more than 400 people attended the successful event, which was sponsored by Junior ROTC cadets at the school and hosted by Gov. John Baldacci. The spaghetti and sauce supplied by Baldacci were donated from his family’s restaurant in Bangor, Mama Baldacci’s.

Several state senators, representatives and candidates were among those helping Baldacci serve.

The fundraiser dinner was held to raise money for three scholarships that will be awarded yearly in the name of three teens who were killed in a plane crash last summer while at a Junior ROTC training camp in Newry.

According to Lt. Col. Robert Meyer, director of the JROTC at Lewiston High, the Leadership Award was established in honor of Shannon Fortier, 15, who was a quiet leader, one who set high standards and led by example; the Staff Excellence Award was established in honor of Teisha Loesberg, 16, who always wanted to be in charge and wanted to be a big part of whatever she was involved in; and the Team Spirit Award was established in honor of Nick Babcock, 17, who always wanted to be part of the team.

“These three can continue giving to the community through the scholarship fund, Meyer said.

The event took about a month to plan. The cadets are doing activities again and are now starting to talk about the tragic deaths of their friends.

The dinner is “going really well,” said Russell, a senior at LHS. “We’re getting great support from the community. It tells us that they care and that they’re aware of what is going on.” She had attended the summer leadership school with the three teens who were killed when the plane they were in crashed during a flying lesson.

“We’re never going to fully heal from this, but it definitely helps to see the community come out,” Russell said. “It really helps the best when we’re all together. Some of us had to grow up really fast – working together as a team really helps, too,” she said.

Katye Vachon and her husband Ray, of Lewiston, attended the dinner to support the benefit.”We saw it in the paper and thought it was a good cause,” Vachon said.

“It’s a great turnout,” said Assistant Principal Paul Amnott. “We were skeptical because of the weather, but it’s tremendous.

“It does my heart good to think this many people still remember after this many months,” said Nick’s mother, Chris Babcock.

Baldacci initially offered to host a fundraiser for the families of the three deceased teens, according to Meyer. But those who knew the cadets weren’t ready emotionally, Meyer said, adding that Saturday night’s dinner was most importantly a healing event.

“It’s good for the cadet corps to get together and do something together,” Meyer said.

A previous fundraiser generated enough money for the families, and the remaining funds were put into a scholarship fund in the name of the three teens. The fund total before Saturday’s dinner was $20,943, Meyer said.