Now friends and supporters are stepping up to not only pay for his remaining hospital bills but to raise awareness of organ donor services.

“Doug was a great husband, great father and great friend,” said longtime friend Kim Stansbury Graybeal.

Hardy, a chief probation officer in Halifax County, who, on Monday, was posthumously awarded officer of the year by the Optimist Club, was diagnosed with a liver disease 10 years ago. “Medication was keeping it in check,” Graybeal said. “A year ago his condition began to deteriorate. We're so perplexed as to why a liver didn't become available. Sadly, Doug died before a liver became available.”

Hardy incurred $20,000 in out of pocket expenses the last week of his life at the University of North Carolina medical center in Chapel Hill. “He incurred all this after insurance.”

The goal, Graybeal said, is to pay off those final expenses, but go beyond that. “We want to partner with Carolina Donor Services to raise money for folks who are waiting for transplants to keep his memory alive.”

Awareness bracelets have been made and children at the First Christian Church vacation Bible school this summer brought money from home, raising more than $5,000 while Hardy was still alive.

The group, called Hope for Hardy, already has a Christmas Concert planned and will do a prom dress sale in January. A 5K in May will honor Hardy's birthday.

On Friday and Saturday there will be events to raise funds for Hope for Hardy.

On Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. there will be a yard sale at the Family Activity Center across the street from First Christian at 839 Roanoke Avenue.

From 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday at the same location there will be other efforts such as a bake sale, Chinese auction, Boston butt sale and more.

For Graybeal, the event is personal. “For years and years he was the brother I didn't have. I've gone through a divorce and he and his wife were very encouraging. We went to church together. He was an elder in the church, a very strong man of God. He didn't just talk it, he lived it every day.”

For more information contact Graybeal at 252-326-5201.