HOULTON, Maine — Often times, the true impact a person has is not fully known until after they are departed.
Such is the case of Hannah Mooers, a 19-year-old Houlton girl who died unexpectedly Feb. 3 after suffering a stroke. Mooers was involved in a number of causes during her short life, including the American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, the Houlton Humane Society, the Ark Animal Sanctuary and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
In an effort to help raise some money for those causes in her memory, Joe Hood, a distributor for Mac Tools, and Jon Miller of Houlton Tire have joined forces to create a special pink toolbox that will be raffled off in Mooers’ memory.
“My daughter was a friend of Hannah,” said Hood. “We wanted to do something to give back to the community and to Hannah’s family. I came up with the idea of doing a raffle of a pink toolbox. Hannah was involved in a lot of causes and helped a lot of people. That’s huge for a girl who was just 19.”
“She touched so many people when she was here and even more after she passed,” Miller added.
The toolbox arrived Feb. 23 in Portland during a regular shipment. Miller and Hood then reached out to the Mooers family to get their blessing for the project.
“We didn’t want to bring something up and then not have it come through,” Hood said.
The family came to Houlton Tire on Wednesday when the toolbox was delivered and were very emotional when it was unveiled, Hood added. Hood decorated the front of the toolbox with chrome decals with the phrase “Pink for Hannah” as an added touch.
“Response has been just amazing,” Miller said. “It’s not about the toolbox. It’s about raising money for Hannah’s memory.”
Raffle tickets will be sold at a number of locations at a price of $10 per ticket. Initially, the men planned to have 1,000 raffle tickets, but they may increase that number if demand warrants it. The commercial grade toolbox has an estimated value of $5,800. All of the proceeds will go to the Mooers family for them to distribute to charities Hannah was involved in.
Tickets are available at Houlton Tire on Smyrna Street and will also be distributed to several businesses in the community. For more information, call Miller at 532-6571.
