Family comes in number of different ways. Sometimes family means that people only share the same genetics and, sometimes, it simply means that people truly care about and love one another.

For the owners and employees of Elias Country Store “family” often centers around the store and all those who work and shop there. A family owned and operated business with a long history here in town, Elias is well known for its commitment to both the town and its employees. This week, Elias Country Store more than earned and lived up to that very reputation.

When one employee of Elias, Gail Daukantis, discovered that her daughter, Stephy, was suffering from brain cancer she was, needless to say, overwhelmed. It didn’t take long, however, for her “work family” to come up with a plan to help.

Everyone at Elias knows that Stephy has along road ahead of her and it didn’t take long for them to prove that they would walk along that road beside her.

This week, thanks to a donation from Hood, Elias was able to raffle off four tickets for tonight’s Red Sox game in order to raise funds for both Stephy and the fight against brain cancer. The raffle itself raised over $3,000 dollars and the hope is that the donations will continue to pour in.

Gail, who has been at the store approximately six years, is a huge part of the Elia’s family and customers of the store were enthusiastic to help as soon as they knew what was going on. Gail’s family is forever tied into the Elias family and that made Stephy’s cause an important one to everyone involved.

Tonight, the raffle winner, Paul Cronin, will enjoy some pretty amazing seats to the Red Sox vs. Angels game but, more than that, he will know that he contributed to a very special cause.

For more information about helping to support Stephy you can visit her donation website.