ROXBURY — The early-morning sun peeked through the clouds on Saturday during Roxbury Riders ATV Club’s Wind Tower Ride to benefit Team Hailey Hugs, a local nonprofit inspired by Hailey Steward and families whose children are patients at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.
For President Mike Worthley, this was just one of many events to benefit children — in the past, he has done night rides and poker runs for Team Hailey Hugs, the Maine Children’s Cancer Program and the Children’s Welfare Fund.
Before departing on the ride, donations were presented to John Steward, father of Hailey Steward, who is currently fighting her third relapse of leukemia.
“We came up with the idea (to gather pajama donations) when we stayed at the Maine Children’s Hospital,” Steward said. “(When you’re preparing for a hospital stay) you can’t plan for everything you need. Pajamas aren’t always something you think of.”
The union Local 900 presented almost 100 pairs of pajamas to Steward along with nearly $500, which will go toward gas cards, food and monetary assistance for the families of Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital.
Last year, over 200 pairs of pajamas were donated to hospital families, and Steward said this year should be about the same.
The club has already raised $1,131 for Team Hailey Hugs through donations and bottle redemptions.
“When you’re going through this, you can sometimes feel so alone, but the support we’ve gotten gives us strength, and we can hopefully pass that strength to other families,” Steward said.
Team Hailey Hugs is working on getting every municipality in the state to “go gold” for the month of September to bring awareness to childhood cancer and to show support to those going through it.
So far, 41 towns have made proclamations to go gold.
The next event for Team Hailey Hugs will be the Maine Goes Gold event on Sept. 2 at the Bethel Common. The event will feature vendors, food, musical performances and other events.
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John Steward, father of Hailey Steward, accepts a check from Jim Allen, member of Local 900 union, for approximately $400 to help the families staying at Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital on Saturday at the Roxbury Riders ATV Club’s Wind Tower Ride for Team Hailey Hugs.
From left, John Steward, Maureen Adley, Judilee Whittemore, Jim Allen and Linda Deane hold donated pajamas at the Roxbury Riders ATV Club’s Wind Tower Ride on Saturday. The donations benefited Team Hailey Hugs.
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