Windham residents bellied up to help out their fellow neighbor last weekend at a spaghetti supper to benefit the Bailey family.
David Bailey and his wife, Dawn, lost their home to an electrical fire on July 30. In the weeks since the fire, many have offered their support and opened their hearts to this family in need.
On Saturday, 100 people dug into an Italian dinner at the Cornerstone Assembly of God in Windham. While tickets only cost $7, many families made private donations on top of the ticket price to help out the Baileys.
Patty Dunn, a cook at Corsetti’s Market, organized the supper along with many local residents and Pastor Will Boyd of the Cornerstone Assembly of God.
Gourmet desserts came straight from New York City courtesy of the daughter of Windham resident Tom Gleason. And by the end of the night, not a crumb was left.
After the dinner, more money was raised through a Chinese auction where two prize tickets to the NASCAR races in Loudon, N.H. were sold for $90.
This outpouring of support has overwhelmed David Bailey and totally changed his outlook on people, he said.
“I was getting to the point that I felt like people didn’t care about each other anymore,” Bailey said. “Now I see there are a lot of caring people out there.”
His home now lies in pieces behind the family automobile repair shop, Pete’s Auto. In a dumpster out back, the scent of a wet campfire wafts out from the burnt debris of his former home with soggy mattresses sticking out the top.
His appliances lie in a separate corner of the scrapyard, draped over with red tarps so the insurance inspectors can come and see exactly what they lost.
Behind the fence in the back, all that remains of the double-wide trailer he used to call home is a concrete foundation. However, the addition he built for his nine dogs still stands as they bark behind a chain-link fence.
His family now stays temporarily in an RV, parked behind Pete’s Auto, that his brother-in-law lent him.
Bailey has kept himself occupied during this difficult time at the family auto shop, now owned by his brother Peter, where he works as a mechanic on occasion.
“My wife took two days off from work and she was standing there going around in circles, not knowing what to do,” Bailey said.
With the spagetti supper a resounding success, local residents continue with their fund-raising efforts, now reaching close to $1,700.
“To have it burn down like that and burn everything, it is just devastating,” said Susan Hiltunen, who helped at the spaghetti supper and has organized a bottle drive in South Portland for the Baileys on Saturday. “I think the Baileys were really shocked by the people willing to help out.”
While this money will help the family get a start rebuilding their home, there’s a long way to go, she said.
But Bailey is committed to rebuilding in the same location, hopefully by the end of the month. And thanks is not enough to express his gratitude to everyone who’s helped out, he said.
“They say you know who your friends are when something like this happens,” Bailey said. “It turns out I have a lot of friends.”
Behind this fence, all that remains of David Bailey’s home is a concrete foundation. A charity spaghetti supper was held last Saturday to help the family through this difficult time. Send questions/comments to the editors.
