The local community has rallied behind a family struck by tragedy last week.
On St. Patrick’s Day around 8:30 p.m., 12-year-old Lee Thunder was walking up the east hill of Highway 55 when he was struck by a van. The impact sent him into the south ditch. He was transported to the Athabasca Heathcare Centre, where he would succumb to his injuries.
The next day, messages of condolences and questions of where to provide the family with financial and material support were all over Facebook.
“The time is now to show compassion to all involved, and not judgment, whether it be the families involved or the emergency response personnel that were at the scene. In such a small community, we need to support each other, not be the cause of further heartache,” was one of the comments.
Something similar, stated Aspen View Public Schools superintendent Mark Francis, happened at Landing Trail Intermediate School (LTIS).
“There was a little bit of people (bringing) stuff to the school to get to the family, we’re assisting them … through victim services and other organizations … to get that help to the family,” he said.
“Because schools are so central in the community, when this first started breaking, people were (coming) in and saying, ‘I have something for the family.’ And we assisted getting that to them.”
The school board also offered counseling to the students and staff that were affected in all three schools.
“It has a devastating impact on the school community,” he said. “You think of siblings, but there’s also cousins, there’s neighbors, there’s little sisters’ friends. There’s childcare givers. This has such an impact.
“In a small community like Athabasca, everyone knows everyone.”
There’s also talk, said Francis, of helping the family set up a trust fund.
“For long term, because I’m sure in an event like this there will be community support through financial donations and so on, so we would just assist with that,” said Francis.
“Really, at the end of the day, we’re just trying to help the family and if the family asks us to help, we’ll provide that assistance.”
Organizations like 27/4 Hip Hop and the Native Friendship Centre also put out donation jars.
All of the proceeds – $805 – from the Native Friendship Centre’s weekly soup and bannock lunch last Friday went towards the family.
According to Laureen Houle, the executive director for the centre, there were quite a bit more people coming in than usual. There were even people just coming in to drop off money for the family.
Meanwhile, formal charges were laid last Thursday against Crystal Andres, 36, from Athabasca as a result of the incident.
Andres has been charged with dangerous driving causing death and failure to remain at the scene of an accident in relation to last Tuesday’s incident.
She will make her first appearance in Athabasca Provincial Court on Apr. 27.
