Fundraiser underway for victims of Wake Forest crash
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (WTVD) -- The aunt of a Heritage High School student injured in Monday's deadly three-car accident in Wake Forest is trying to raise $20,000 to help fund medical and funeral costs for the teens involved.
Julia Deaver, a Raleigh-native who now lives in Florida, is heading up the online fund raising effort.
"Just showing the constant love and support is really important in these dark times because it lifts people up and helps them to face this," Deaver told ABC11 on the phone.
Deaver's niece, 16-year-old Skyla Kirby, was a passenger in the car with 17-year-old Faith Rock, who was driving when Rock turned left in front of another vehicle causing the accident. The group of teens was returning from a Bible class.
Faith's brother, Braden, died in the crash -- while Kirby and 16-year-old Katie Williams were both transported to WakeMed in Raleigh. Kirby survived the worst injuries of the bunch.
"She has broken ribs. She has spleen and liver that have been lacerated," Deaver described. "Her eyes were cut and bruised, and she's just swollen and cut and bruised all over."
Kirby and Williams remain in the ICU, while Faith Rock was treated and released. As their recoveries continue and funeral plans for Braden move forward, the expenses for all of the teens' families are mounting.
"The burden of losing a child is enough. I don't think that they need the burden of also having to have the cost of burying him," said Deaver, referring to the Rock family.
To help, Deaver created a page at www.crowdrise.com/juliadeaver. So far she's collected more than $2,500, which is about an eighth of her goal.
"I would really like to cover their cost of the funeral, and help pay for all of the medical costs for these families," she explained.
Deaver said the effort is a way for the community to show its love and support during a dark hour and give the teens involved an example to follow in their own lives.
"As we show them through example the love and support we can give them, they in turn are going to grow up and become those kinds of people," said Deaver.
Braden's visitation is Saturday from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located at 1524 Jenkins Road in Wake Forest. His funeral follows at 10 a.m.
