Windham’s Shiba Haddadi, 12, and Brooklynn Hennigar, 10, loved to ride the helicopter at Windham Summerfest with their Albion Road neighbor, Gene Hawkes.
When Hawkes, 55, an aviation enthusiast who often rode in planes and helicopters with friends, died after falling into a diabetic coma in early February, the two girls decided to sell Easter baskets around the neighborhood in his honor.
“He would take us on a helicopter every Summerfest, and he was a good friend of ours,” Haddadi said. “We thought we would do something nice for him.”
Hawkes, a Hannaford supermarket employee and former law enforcement officer on Frye Island, was friends with Toby Pennels, the Casco-based financial adviser and Windham Veterans Association president who died in September after suffering injuries in a motorcycle crash. Following Hawkes’ death, the Hawkes family directed memorial donations toward “Toby’s Dream,” an effort to pave the Windham Veterans Center’s dirt access road and parking lot behind the Windham Mall in Pennels’ honor.
Last weekend, Haddadi and Hennigar walked door to door in the Albion Road neighborhood, selling Easter baskets filled with candy, coloring books, stuffed animals, Easter eggs and other items. By the end of the tour, the girls had sold 10 baskets to six households, collecting $90 in donations toward Toby’s Dream.
Hawkes’ mother, June, said she had no advance notice of Haddadi and Hennigar’s plans.
“I was really overwhelmed they did that and took it upon themselves to want to do something instead of asking their parents to give the money,” said Hawkes, of Windham Center Road. “They wanted to do something on their own and I thought it was a very generous thing of them to do. They were really excited that they had done it when they brought the money up to me and said this is for Toby’s Dream.”
“They wanted to do something on their own because they thought the world of Eugene,” Hawkes added.
Windham Veterans’ Association Treasurer Ken Murch praised the girls’ efforts.
“I guess we’re all just very touched to think that they did this,” Murch said. “I guess they considered him like a grandfather. He made quite an impression on them, obviously.”
According to Murch, the association has raised $22,000 since it kicked off the campaign Jan. 5 with a goal of raising $50,000 by Memorial Day. Organizers of the fundraiser are planning a May 23 road race at Windham High School to raise funds, Murch said.
“There are people talking about details right now, but things seem to be coming together,” he said.
According to Don Swander, the veterans association’s president from 2005-2012, the paving project funded by the Toby’s Dream campaign will allow the association to make significant upgrades to the center’s building and grounds. These improvements, along with the paving, will significantly increase rental income, Swander said, thereby making the center “financially self-sustaining.”
On Tuesday, Haddadi said she was pleased with the results of her contribution to the campaign, describing Gene Hawkes as a “close friend.”
“We just thought it would be something special and fun at the same time,” Haddadi said. “We’re happy that we sold all of them.”
Shiba Haddadi, left, and Brooklynn Hennigar pose with a set of Easter baskets they made in honor of Gene Hawkes. Courtesy photo
Toby Pennels
Gene Hawkes
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