MIFFLIN TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — The community is coming together in memory of a Columbia County pilot killed in a crop dusting accident.

It was billed as a fundraising fly-in at Benton Airport.

While windy and occasionally wet weather prevented that, it couldn’t stop the community from supporting the family of Ted Farwell.

The 39-year-old Orangeville man passed away in August when the crop duster helicopter he was piloting crashed near Berwick.

“He has a wife and three kids and she’s pregnant with her fourth so she’s gonna have a tough time so we’re all coming together to help the family,” said Bob Brewinhton the president of Benton Airport Association.

What organizers did manage to do was sell food and hold raffle ticket sales inside the airport hangar. Outside, they held a car show and put some small planes on display. Family members of Farwell were there including a brother who struggled to find the right words to express his gratitude

“It’s just an amazing outpouring of love and support, and that means a lot there’s um yeah, I can’t even put words to it. so, it’s just it’s great, just amazing. every time you look around you see all these people you just think wow, he impacted so many lives,” explained Joe Farwell, Ted Farwell’s brother.

Brewington says he hopes this shows Farwell’s children how loved he is by the community.

“They’ll realize that their father was very well-liked. At his viewing, it was the biggest crowd they ever had at the Stillwater Church. I think they had 1,400 people come um so that’s what we’re trying to do, we wanna help the family as much as we can,” added Brewington.

Farwell’s brother hopes the kids are able to see what their dad meant to their community.

“Hopefully they can see how he impacted other people and um maybe they can um see how he touched them and then how these people then have returned that and um you know, it’s just the love of jesus coming out through Ted’s life,” continued Joe.

The Benton Fly-in is traditionally held this third Saturday of October.

The difference this year is organizers turned it into a fundraiser for Ted Farwell’s family.