SKOWHEGAN (WGME) -- A Central Maine community is mourning the loss of a pregnant mother of two after she was killed in a Skowhegan car crash. 
 
 Police said Desiree Strout, 27, was on her way to the hospital to induce labor on her third child when she hit a patch of black ice and lost control. 
 
 Those who knew Strout said she would go the extra mile for anyone, now they're trying to do the same for the family she leaves behind. 
 
 Some of the cash from redeemed bottles at The Beverage Mart in Skowhegan will be given to Strout's husband, Harry Weeks, their two daughters, and their newborn son. 
 
 "Breaks your heart," said Shirley Lewis, who donated the proceeds from her bottles. "I was sick all day about it, still am." 
 
 Police said Weeks and one of the couple's daughters were in the car with Strout on Monday morning, when it rolled over and landed on a frozen pond along Route 2. 
 
 Strout was nine months pregnant. Her son was delivered by C-section at the hospital, but she didn't survive. 
 
 "It was pretty devastating," said Marty Ashe, a friend of the Strout family. "That's a really sad situation." 
 
 Ashe said Strout babysat him when he was a little boy. 
 
 "She was always all smiles," he said. "She was just a very nice, genuine person." 
 
 Ashe is organizing funds at The Beverage Mart, where he works 
 
 "We'll be giving six cents for all the bottles they bring in, so that money will go to them," he said. "We'll also take cash next door." 
 
 Pine Street Redemption in Madison is also taking donations, and a GoFundMe page has already raised more than $2,000 for the family. 
 
 "It's a wonderful world we live in," said Lewis. "There's a lot more great people than there are bad, and we have to always keep that in mind and help others when we can." 
 
 A family member told CBS 13 that Weeks is at Eastern Maine Medical Center with his new son. The hospital isn't releasing any information about the baby, but police said on Monday he was reported to be in critical condition. 
 
 Friends will hold a benefit dinner and auction for the family on February 10 at 1:00 p.m. at the Poulin Turner Union Hall in Skowhegan. 
 
 ||||| A pregnant mother of two died in car crash Monday as she drove herself to the hospital to prepare to deliver her third child — who miraculously survived the wreck. 
 
 Desiree Strout, 28, of Canaan, Maine, was with husband Harry Weeks, 29, and their 8-year-old daughter as they made their way to Redington-Fairview General Hospital on Monday so she could be induced into labor at 9 months pregnant. 
 
 When she was just five miles away from the hospital, she lost control when she struck a patch of black ice, which caused the car to slide off the road, roll and hit frozen snow built up along the side of the road, Chief David Bucknam of the Skowhegan Police Department confirmed to PEOPLE. The vehicle then rolled onto a frozen pond and came to rest on its side. 
 
 Desiree Strout and Harry Weeks Jessica Michael Photography 
 
 When rescue workers and the Skowhegan Fire Department arrived on scene, “the decision was made to pull Desiree to the side of the pond where rescue personnel could give Desiree medical attention as she had stopped breathing,” said Bucknam, specifically praising Officer Christopher Viera and firefighter Jason Front for their heroic efforts. 
 
 Police chief says crash that killed pregnant 27-year-old caused by black ice https://t.co/RD11R05AZJ pic.twitter.com/0mSiMQelbQ — Kennebec Journal (@KJ_Online) January 23, 2018 
 
 Desiree died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, but her baby boy pulled through and survived after being born via emergency Caesarean section at a local hospital. The Kennebec Journal reported that the baby was in critical condition around noon Monday at Redington-Fairview General Hospital. 
 
 He was later transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where a spokesperson declined to comment on the baby’s condition, but released a statement from the family asking for privacy during this “incredibly difficult time.” 
 
 Her husband, Harry Weeks, suffered a lacerated liver, a punctured lung and was listed in critical condition as of Monday, while their daughter has minor injuries, PEOPLE has learned. Their other daughter, who is two-years-old, wasn’t in the car. 
 
 Desiree’s friend from high school, Brandon Blodgett, 28, tells PEOPLE that she was an “amazing mother” who homeschooled her children and loved to teach them things. 
 
 “She had this wicked bubbly personality, and was always so chipper,” he says. “You liked to be around her. She was an amazing mother.” 
 
 RELATED VIDEO: California Mom, 40, Who Competed in Marathons Dies Two Days After Flu Diagnosis 
 
 Blodgett says that the entire community is “in such shock” that she’s gone and that their baby is in critical condition. 
 
 “It’s going to take a long time for Harry to be all right, but I have faith,” he adds. “It’s tragic.” 
 
 Buckman says he will be recognizing both Officer Viera and firefighter Forst “for their quick actions that saved the life of the unborn child.” 
 
 “It was an extremely stressful and emotional morning as Desiree was well known throughout the community as well as her mother working at the hospital Desiree was taken to,” said Bucknam. “I personally would like to express my sincere appreciation to the men and woman of both the Skowhegan Police Department and Fire Department for their quick response and decisive action on scene.” ||||| SKOWHEGAN — A pregnant woman on her way to a local hospital to be medically induced to give birth was killed Monday morning when her vehicle slid on black ice and crashed off U.S. Route 2 in Skowhegan, police said. 
 
 Desiree Strout, 27, was nine months pregnant when she was killed, police said late Monday. 
 
 State police and Skowhegan police and firefighters responded to the accident that left a burned truck overturned on the ice of a small pond along Route 2 in Skowhegan early Monday. A pregnant woman died in the accident and the baby was reportedly delivered by C-section after the accident. Staff photo by David Leaming 
 
 Skowhegan Police Chief David Bucknam said the baby was delivered by emergency Caesarean section at Redington-Fairview General Hospital following the crash. Bucknam said the baby was in critical condition at about noontime Monday and was later transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where hospital officials refused to confirm any information about the baby. 
 
 Harry Weeks, 29, a passenger who police said was possibly Strout’s husband, suffered a punctured lung and laceration to his liver, according to Bucknam. 
 
 “The baby is currently in Bangor at EMMC,” Bucknam said in an email to the Morning Sentinel Monday afternoon. “Unknown status, as the hospital will not give us an update.” 
 
 Franny MacMichael Clark, of Skowhegan, is a family friend of Strout’s and expressed shock and sadness at the passing of the young mother of two little girls. 
 
 “The times that I was around her, she was a very loving mother,” Clark said. “Her oldest daughter, Delanie, is such a smart little cookie and I know Desiree home-schooled her kids, so you could tell, it was evident, that she spent a lot of time with them and teaching them. She was a sweetheart — her parents are my neighbors.” 
 
 Strout’s mother, Andrea Knowles, did not immediately return a social media message on Monday. Clark said Strout’s two daughters are about 8 and 5 years old. 
 
 She said she thought that the baby to be delivered Monday morning was a boy. 
 
 Bucknam said Strout was driving a 2005 Chevy Trailblazer when the vehicle hit black ice just before 7 a.m. on a stretch of road also known as Canaan Road, east of downtown Skowhegan. He said she lost control of the vehicle near the intersection of East Ridge Road, Eaton Mountain Road and Route 2. The vehicle hit a snow bank sideways at the edge of the road and rolled over, landing on the driver’s side on a frozen pond. 
 
 “It was not speed,” Bucknam said at his office. “She just hit the black ice and lost control.” 
 
 Bucknam did not return a request for comment late Monday about why Strout was driving the vehicle instead of Weeks. 
 
 Strout had been traveling from Canaan to the hospital where she was to be medically induced to have the baby. An 8-year-old girl also was in the vehicle. Bucknam said the girl did not have life-threatening injuries. 
 
 No other vehicles were involved. 
 
 Maine State Police assisted Skowhegan police at the scene, as did units from the Skowhegan Fire Department and ambulances from EMS at Redington-Fairview General Hospital. 
 
 Doug Harlow — 612-2367 
 
 [email protected] 
 
 Twitter:@Doug_Harlow 
 
 Share 
 
 filed under: 
 
 Wake up to the local news you need Enter your email and our daily headlines will be delivered to your inbox each morning. Email * 
 
 Newsletter Choices * Daily Headlines Breaking News High School Sports Maine Cannabis Report Evening Express 
 
 * I understand the Terms of Service. 
 
 
 
 This iframe contains the logic required to handle Ajax powered Gravity Forms.
– A patch of black ice in Maine led to tragedy for a pregnant mom of two on her way to the hospital to deliver her third child. CentralMaine.com reports 27-year-old Desiree Strout was driving on US Route 2 in Skowhegan Monday morning with her husband, 29-year-old Harry Weeks, and their 8-year-old daughter (their other daughter, 2, wasn't with them), headed to a local hospital so she could be medically induced into labor. That's when, just 5 miles from their destination, Strout hit the stretch of black ice and lost control of the car, which slid into a bank of frozen snow on the roadside, then rolled and tipped onto its side on an iced-over pond, David Bucknam, chief of the Skowhegan Police Department, tells People. Emergency responders tried to resuscitate Strout at the edge of the pond, but to no avail; she's said to have died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Weeks ended up in critical condition with a punctured lung and torn liver, while their daughter suffered minor injuries. In a sliver of good news, Strout's baby boy was delivered by emergency C-section and was initially said to be in critical condition; his updated status after being moved to a Bangor hospital hasn't been divulged. One of Strout's friends tells People that those who know the family are "in such shock" over the accident. Per WGME, members of the community are doing what they can to help Weeks out, including a local beverage store that will donate some of its proceeds from recycled containers to the family. A GoFundMe page has raised nearly $10,000 so far out of a $50,000 goal, with any leftover money after funeral and medical costs to be set for a trust for the couple's children.