LEWISTON, Maine — After the mass shooting on Oct. 25 in Lewiston, Mainers are coming together to raise money for the victims' families and the community as a whole. 18 people lost their lives to the violence, and 13 others were injured, some critically.
Natalie Beaudoin, a senior at Lewiston High School, grew up in the community and was in Florida on vacation when the news about the tragedy broke.
"My sister told me that there were just two shootings in Maine in Lewiston," Beaudoin said. "It was a very emotional night. It really didn’t feel real. You never think it would happen to your city."
Beaudoin is also a star basketball player at her school. And this season, her team's warm-up gear will look a bit different since she has designed T-shirts supporting Lewiston that they will be wearing.
She is also selling the shirts online to raise money for families affected by the shootings.
“The main idea of this is that we’re all in this together, and we’re all one," Beaudoin said. "It is really a lot bigger than just Lewiston because it has happened in so many places across the country."
Beaudoin says her message plays into a hashtag that has grown across Maine and the Internet: #LewistonStrong.
"We are strong. We’re going to get through this," Beaudoin said.
Zack Timmermeyer, a Lewiston resident, lost six people he knew in the shootings. So, he has been working closely with friends to organize a benefit softball tournament on Nov. 11.
“You’re going, ‘Okay, that’s a quarter-mile down the street from my house. These are all the people that I know,'" he said of the shootings.
Timmermeyer said proceeds from the tournament and a raffle were initially going to go to just the families of Ron Morin and Joey Walker, victims who were part of the softball community. The event has gained so much traction, though, that organizers will now be dividing funds raised among all of the victims' families.
“The outreach of the community and even people outside of Maine that have reached out with substantial amounts of donations and support is just overwhelming," Timmermeyer said, later adding, “In a matter of a couple of Facebook posts – I can’t even keep track with the amount of outreach I’ve had.”
He said about 350 players have signed up to take part in the tournament so far and businesses have donated more than $4,000 worth of raffle items. His goal is to make the event about community as much as it is about fundraising.
“There were countless people that will be at this event that were at both locations and witnessed that," Timmermeyer. "That’s something they’re going to have with them forever.”
The Maine Community Foundation has started a Lewiston-Auburn Area Response Fund as a reliable way for individuals and institutional donors to give. President and CEO Deborah Ellwood says money will go to victims' families and the greater Lewiston community.
“Our mission is to bring people and resources together to build a better Maine," she said. "We are exactly doing that.”
Ellwood said the past few days have been anxious and frightening, but she has faith in the Pine Tree State.
“I just think we care about each other," Ellwood said. "It’s beyond Maine. People really love this state and we care about each other. We’ve been shaken."
People have also set up GoFundMe pages to raise money for specific people and the crowdfunding platform has verified the following accounts for the loved ones of victims: