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Health & Fitness

Hometown Glory

A community comes together in a time of need with amazing support for a local family with the loss of their loved ones, including a Wyandotte Public Schools employee.

Hello world, and a happy Tuesday to everyone!

If you read my previous blog, I said my next one would be about the Wyandotte Jaycees and what we do. I'm going to hold off on that until next time, due to a recent loss my hometown has endured and I want to share it with all of you.

I am from Allen Park, born and raised, and this past Tuesday we experienced a tragic and unimaginable loss to our community. I'm sure many of you have heard about the family that passed away in the awful car accident, resulting in all three of the family members - mother Dawn, father William and their youngest and only son Billy - passing away at the scene. Two other people were in the car with them, and are recovering in a West Michigan hospital as I write this.

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I have still not been able to wrap my head around this, but let me tell you how absolutely proud I am to be from Allen Park. In a time of extreme loss, laced with confusion and grief, the city I grew up in banded together to offer the two surviving sisters, Jenny & Nikki, emotional support across the country; we've moved around and relocated our lives since graduation. 

Here's what pulls so hard on my heart strings...in less than 24 hours, almost $20,000 has been raised to help the sisters in their time of need. Let me say that again...$20,000!!!! I was amazed by the amount, but would never expect anything less from my hometown. Words will never be able to express how proud I am to tell people I am from Allen Park, yesterday, today, and for the rest of my life.

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I have the greatest group of lifelong friends in those I went to high school with, we like to think we're a little different than the average bunch. No matter where we have traveled to root our feet in new soil far from home, it never ceases to amaze me how quickly those people come to the front line for you, WITH YOU, in a time of need or support. If any of you are reading this, you pull on my heart so immensely in so many different ways in everything you do; I will continue to be amazed by the bond we have strengthened and further wow people, and the world, with our hearts. I am the luckiest girl in the world to be connected to all of you, no matter time or distance.

Thank you to the amazing community of Allen Park for the contributions you continue to make for this family in their time of need. This should be a proud moment for all of us, to show Jenny and Nikki just how much their mother, father and brother meant to the world. Everyone they met was touched by their grace and love, and it shines through in the both of you.

If anyone would like to make a contribution to the family, I have posted the link below.

www.givefoward.com/gatesymemorial

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