Community comes together to support family of Brandi Hauck

Feb. 10—DALMATIA — A rural Pennsylvania community pulled together throughout the last month to host a benefit for Cash and Willow Adams, siblings of Brandi Hauck, who was killed earlier this year.

The benefit was held Saturday at the Lower Mahanoy Township Fire Company and attendees were able to in a Chinese auction with more than 100 donated items.

Donna Thomas, manager at the fire company, and Brandi Heim, a friend of Hauck, said they started planning the benefit just two days after Hauck was killed in early January.

The community immediately came together to support the event, according to Heim.

"The second I shared something on Facebook, people started reaching out wanting to help," she said.

Heim said she and Hauck had been best friends since they were in fourth grade. Thomas said her daughter, Ashley Deibler, who also helped planned the event, was friends with Hauck as well.

The friend group always hung out at the Lower Mahanoy Fire Company, so it was the perfect place to hold the benefit, Heim said.

Thomas said she was truly impressed by the community outreach. "Everything here has been donated," she said. "That includes the food, auction items, and help running the event."

Donations poured in from businesses and individuals locally and even from counties away, Heim added.

Even as the event was beginning at around 3 p.m. Saturday, a man pulled into the fire company parking lot and handed someone $50. He said he couldn't stay, but wanted to donate, according to Thomas.

The benefit organizers wanted to thank the community for pulling together. "This was our idea, but we truly couldn't have done it without the community," Heim said.

Nikki Carr attended the benefit Saturday. She said she knows the Adams family and lives right down the road from them.

"I figured there would be a good turnout here today," Carr said. "I'm really surprised by the amount of items that were donated for the Chinese auction."

Hauck was shot and killed by Tracey Adams, while standing outside Hauck's residence along Malta Road, according to Northumberland County District Attorney Michael O'Donnell. The county Coroner Jim Kelley said Hauck was the stepdaughter of Adams.