AUBURN – Tammy Hewison has never shied from raising money at her restaurant, The Slamma, for people in need.

This time, Hewison was the one who needed help. And a complete stranger came to her rescue, giving her $5,000 so she can keep her restaurant open.

“I have the greatest customers,” she said. “They don’t want me to close.”

Hewison opened her restaurant in 1999, naming it The Slamma because she had worked five years as a guard inside the Androscoggin County Jail.

Customers have come to know Hewison for her blueberry pancakes, her wit and her generosity.

When fire destroyed a nearby apartment house three years ago, she collected money and clothes for the people who were homeless. Last summer, she had a spaghetti dinner to raise money for a sick boy in need of bone marrow tests.

On Thanksgiving and Christmas, she gives away meals. Local churches sometimes send people in need to her restaurant, figuring she will find a way to help them.

“I do it because that’s what I am supposed to do,” Hewison said.

Two days after Christmas, Hewison found herself in need.

Her insurance company told her she needed a $1,200 fire-suppressing system in her kitchen to continue to be insured. That couldn’t be done unless she bought a new hood over the grill, something that would cost another $4,200 – money Hewison didn’t have.

“I would have closed,” she said. “During that first week, I pretty much stayed back and licked my wounds.”

That’s when her customers extended a helping hand.

Somebody brought in a fund-raising bucket, and customers started giving money to help. Two people gave her $100 donations.

Hewison scheduled her own fund-raising dinners, where people would pay $10 for several courses of food.

Then, a man Hewison had never seen before came in with a $5,000 check – enough to keep her open. All he wanted was a handshake. There were no papers to sign.

“It’s a loan,” the anonymous benefactor told her. “You pay it back whenever you can.”

Hewison’s fund-raising dinners will go on as scheduled, but they will be used to raise money to repay the loan.

“We’ve worked hard to keep this restaurant going,” Hewison said. “I can’t see myself closing. I’d handcuff myself to the front door first.”