Wyandotte Teen Leads Collection for Classmate Struck by Train

Josie Klaiss nearly broke down in tears when she heard that her classmate, Jacob Marion, had been struck by a train and was barely clinging to life.

Klaiss, a 17-year-old senior at , said everyone at school was talking about the accident the next morning.

“I overheard some people talking about doing a fundraiser for him, but no one really was sure how to do it or what to do,” she said. “I thought about it and figured I’d sit at a table in the lunchroom for the whole lunch period with a big poster in front of the table and collect money.”

After a message went out on Facebook and an email sent around to school staff to alert their students, Josie and her friend, Nikki Dorris, were ready to go.

Two days later, the girls sat with three jugs and watched as student after student came up during all three lunch periods and helped filled the bottles with cash and coins.

“I really couldn’t believe it,” Josie said. “People started to donate and it never stopped. They just kept coming and coming.”

While some students only had a little to give, Josie said, she told them all the same thing.

“I told everyone that it doesn’t matter the amount you give because everything adds up,” she said. “I think that’s what really got people involved. They knew that no matter what they had to give, it all added up.”

And did it ever.

In $1 bills alone, more than $800 was collected over the three lunch periods. Add to that a few larger bills and two jugs full of change and the collection rose to about $1,250.

When the donations were taken to an area bank to be cashed in for larger bills, bank employees were so touched by the students’ giving that they, too, reached into their pockets, bringing the grand total to $1,362.30.

“I was so happy with the amount we raised,” Josie said. “It was no where near what I was expecting I was expecting a couple hundred dollars. I started counting the money when the last lunch was over. When I was counting the dollars bills and was already at $800, I was speechless. We had so much and I couldn’t believe it. When I ht the $1,000 mark, it was amazing. It was so much more than I was expecting. It was such a happy feeling.”

The largest single donation came from a girl who donated $90, plus gave

"I couldn't believe how generous people were," Josie said.

With herself being a senior and Jacob a freshman, Josie said she doesn't even know the boy. But the Roosevelt bond was enough to kick her into action.

“I don’t know him or his family at all,” she said. “I just knew something had to happen to help him out. … When someone told me what had happened with him, it almost brought me to tears. I have a little brother the same age. If anything was to ever happen to him, I would feel terrible and I wouldn’t know what to do.”

Jacob remains in critical condition at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit after being struck by a train Feb. 28. The 14-year-old recently underwent surgery to have . Doctors are still monitoring the swelling and bleeding in his brain.

A benefit dinner is set for 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Pier 500, 507 Biddle. Tickets, which include dinner and music, are $10 and are available at Pier 500, Speedboat Bar & Grill and Shopper's Valley Market. Tickets also will be sold at the door. A bake sale, silent auction and 50-50 drawings also will take place.

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