Some 201 trucks, cars and school buses from Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire snaked their way Saturday afternoon from Winterport Dragway down to Hampden and back to raise money for 2-year-old Enoch McGovern, who suffered from a family tragedy earlier in the month.
Enoch, who was released from Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor earlier this week, watched with his father as the convoy passed the Hampden Post Office, according to Jason Perry, 31, of Hollis, who organized the event.
Perry runs the Facebook group Maine Diesels, which has posted videos and comments from the event.
Troy Gamrat, a member of Maine Diesels, first posted to the Facebook page, asking other truckers to join him in driving past the hospital to support the boy and his family.
“My heart goes out to this little boy who was part of a tragic incident …,” Gamrat posted on the Facebook group page. “I don’t want this boy growing up being scared of big trucks. I feel a parade of trucks in his honor and with donations … to show him love and support from us drivers, just a thought …”
Perry made the idea bigger, calling it the Convoy for a Cause.
Previous convoys, such as one last summer in Harpswell to honor his Bath Iron Works co-worker Levi Alexander, who was killed in a motorcycle crash, drew about 250 trucks, Perry said.
Perry said he found out this past Wednesday that Enoch already had been discharged from the hospital, but decided to run the fundraiser anyway using a different route that didn’t pass the hospital. The one-hour drive left the dragway a little after 1:15 p.m. Saturday because of inclement weather, escorted by the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office.
He had contacted the family to attend the event, but said they initially hesitated because they were overwhelmed by a similar event last weekend.
However, the father, son, grandmother and grandfather decided to watch. The grandparents looked on from Coldbrook Road in Hampden, he said.
The boy is healing from serious injuries suffered the afternoon of Oct. 4, when his mother, 26-year-old Heidi McGovern, who suffered from depression, jumped in front of an Irving Oil tanker truck on Interstate 95 in Lincoln while holding Enoch. She was killed instantly, police said.
To reach a suicide prevention hotline, call 888-568-1112 or 800-273-TALK (8255), or visit www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
BDN writer Beth Brogan contributed to this report.
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