Dinner raises money for Raleigh mugging victim
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A Raleigh woman known for giving back to the community is now getting a helping hand of her own from the people she spent years helping.
Annie Nice was the victim of a vicious mugging last month. Nice was seriously injured and the medical bills have been piling up.
A dinner was held Friday night at the Knights of Columbus. Money raised from the event, as well as from an online fundraiser will all go in a pot to help pay for medical bills.
CLICK HERE TO VISIT OR DONATE TO THE ANNIE NICE GOFUNDME PAGE
"I'm so lucky. I come from Ireland. I've made this my home and I couldn't have made a better home-away-from-home," she said.
Nice grew up in Northern Ireland. She escaped the war zone and says it was here where she was terrorized last month.
"It was like boom, you're on the ground," Nice said. "It just came out of the blue and unexpected."
She told police she was getting out of her car in the parking lot behind her apartment building when she was jumped by three young men. They beat and robbed her.
Nice is now confined to a neck brace. There's a lump on the back of her head, pain constantly shooting up her arm, and it's hard for her to walk around. A trip up the stairs takes an agonizing 10 minutes. She says the bottom of her back was cracked a week.
She wanted to attend the Friday night fundraiser held in her honor, but says she physically couldn't do it.
"Thank God, I'm getting stronger and I really appreciate the strength and help of this entire community," Nice said.
Nice is unemployed right now. She's the former general manager of the now-closed Tir na Nog restaurant.
"She has helped a lot of people throughout the years and that's why we wanted to do something for her," said Jerry Ryan from the Ancient Order of Hibernians. "She helps everybody in the Irish community."
And while Nice works towards recovery, police say they are actively trying to find her attackers. There have been no arrests.
