The recent fundraiser at Wannawaf, nestled against the in-town end of Boothbay Harbor’s footbridge, is the latest example of a caring community and the caliber of our young people.

The waffle eating contest was to benefit Boothbay Region High School coach and teacher Nick Scott, his wife, Mandy, currently undergoing chemo treatments for colon cancer, and their baby girl to help them with anticipated medical expenses. The event raised over $4,000.

These local fundraisers don’t just happen; it takes a lot of planning, in this case by Wannawaf owner Anya Arsenault, manager Matt Forgues (a successful young athlete formerly coached by Nick Scott), the Wannawaf crew and others, as well as the generous donation of raffle prizes once again by the business community.

Perhaps the best example of selfless generosity to emerge from this event came from 50/50 raffle winner Lynn Pawlowski, who, without even blinking an eye, donated her winnings (over $500) to the Scott family.

In our community, we’re proud to say it’s not unusual for raffle winners to give the money back to the sponsoring charity, but in this case, it’s a bit different: Lynn just graduated from Boothbay Region High School in June, is working this summer at the Palabra Gift Shop, and is headed off to college at SUNY Fredonia, near Buffalo, N.Y. in a few weeks. She plans to study computer science and hopes to some day become a math teacher. She’s facing big expenses for room, board, books, etc. (average cost at the college, $27,000 per year), yet she didn’t hesitate to return her windfall to help out the family.

She was a former student of Nick Scott in elementary school and was also a member of his track team her senior year. Lynn has also been a volunteer with Maine Special Olympics, another sign her heart’s in the right place. Her mom Mary says “We’re very proud of her,’’ as are we all.

We try to periodically point out that we’re home to some of the finest young people on the planet and this is just one more instance in which they put their best foot forward, probably due in part to the fact that they live in a community where events such as this one are commonplace.

If someone needs help, they know they can count on their friends and neighbors to step forward, and, admirably, the business community continues to step up to the plate and support one fundraiser after another. We’ve said it before, and we’ll probably never stop repeating it: we live in a very special place.