Staff Writer

Scarborough residents and students banded together with a night of food and fun to support one of their teachers.

Hundreds of people attended the “Build a Bridge for Becky” social, which was hosted at the Scarborough High School cafeteria Jan. 16. The event was put together to raise money as a gift for the family of Wentworth Intermediate School teacher and Gorham resident Becky Philbrick, who was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, also called metastatic disease, which causes cells in the original tumor in the breast to spread throughout the rest of the body. The disease is considered a “Stage 4” cancer, meaning it usually spreads aggressively to other organs. Philbrick was diagnosed with the cancer more than four years ago and has gone back and forth between work and radiation treatments.

Wentworth Intermediate School teacher Paula Doe, who came up with the idea for the event with Scarborough Middle School teacher Leslie Walker, said planning for the social began in December.

“It just all started out as a conversation to see what we could do to help out,” she said. “Leslie and I both work in the school system, so it was easy to get the word out by email or word of mouth about it. Their whole family has touched everyone and I think that’s why there are so many people here. No matter what we asked, people wanted to do something, whether it was the high school jazz band playing, or people in Gorham helping out, it just started to progress throughout the community.”

Scarborough High School students Danny Clark and Ryan Kane said they both attended the social because they’re friends with Philbrick’s son, Ian.

“I’ve known Ian my whole life. His mom’s a great lady. She’s the kind of person who, even with dealing with her own issues, will still help other people,” Clark said.

“It’s been quite a turnout tonight,” Kane said. “I didn’t expect this many people to show, just maybe kids from the high school. It’s nice to see this many people turn out and give, especially with the way the economy is. It’s not even the holiday season anymore and people are still giving, so that’s cool.”

The social included free food and various performances, such as music from the Scarborough High School Jazz Band, singing from Marissa Sheltra and a yo-yo performance by Brandon Baines, both Scarborough High School alumni.

Walker said the highlight of the evening was Philbrick attending the event with her husband Bob and her children Ian, Kevin and Maria. Their oldest son, Jason, was unable to attend. People in the audience lined up to have an opportunity to speak with Becky Philbrick throughout the evening.

“This event has been wonderful and just very humbling,” Bob Philbrick said. “We really didn’t really know much about this whole thing until recently.”

Walker said local businesses also donated money toward the event. She said she has yet to make a final count of the donations from the social and didn’t want to give out the final number until after the money is donated to the Philbrick family. 

“I was shocked by the number of people who attended,” Walker said. “The whole thing went off without a hitch, it couldn’t have been more perfect.”

To make a donation, contact Walker at 730-4809 or Doe at 730-4902.