A Terrible Tragedy Brings Out the Kindness of Others

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Ok, I don't do this very often but this one is close to my heart.  Last week, there was a terrible accident between a SUV and a school bus.  Four people in the SUV lost their lives, including 3 children.  There was one survivor in the car.  Fortunately with the amazing job of the bus driver, no one was seriously injured on the bus.  The bus was carrying the Lafayette High baseball team.


My husband is a teacher at Lafayette High, and he has taught some of the baseball players.  My youngest daughter is a senior at LHS and knows many of the players.  I used to work at Lafayette High, and still sub there.  I subbed for the asst coach that received moderate injuries when he was in middle school.  Also, the asst coach played soccer with my son.  We have known the coaches for many years. So, you can understand why this affected me so much.

While it has been a long and trying week for many in the community dealing with this tragedy, Lafayette High has started a fund (Cheatham-Escort Fund) to help pay for the funerals of the 4 that perished in the accident.  I can not believe the outpouring of love and support that they have received.  The school has raised about $15,000 so far (including money collected at school and online).  My daughter works in the office for one of her classes, and described how some students came in and donated their own money.  She told me how one student came in, and gave $25 of his own money.  He said that the family could use the money more than he could.  This just brings tears to my eyes thinking about how wonderful and selfless the students and faculty have been this week.

The school is still raising money to help the families.  I can't even imagine losing 4 members of my family, and having another member of the family in the hospital with serious injuries.  Then having to deal with all of the funeral and medical costs.  Please help LHS with this fund raiser for the Cheatham-Escort families.

On another note, I need to commend and thank the bus driver, Amy Dore.  Without her heroic efforts, many more lives could have been lost.  After the bus was hit head on, she still had the state of mind and poise to keep the bus upright and basically under control.  The bus crossed the median, a frontage road and a small ditch then ended up in a muddy sugar cane field.  It was a miracle that she was able to keep the bus upright.

Dore owned this bus.  (In our area, some bus drivers own their own buses and others drive district owned buses.)  Now, she is without a bus, and still has to pay previous repair bills.  I'm really hoping that the community comes together to help her get a new bus.  We need more bus drivers like her.  She is a true hero, and a wonderful woman.  She is a good friend of my daughter's previous bus driver, and drove for several of my friends' children.  There has been a fund set up for her.  I'm hoping that Lafayette High will start one for her after the one for the family is over.  You can check out the current fundraiser for Amy Dore (the bus driver) here.

I understand that not everyone can afford to help financially but you can help by spreading the word.  Please Like or Share this post with your friends, or share one of the links above.  While this is tragedy, let's help show the world that there are still heroes in this world.  Also, let's show the rest of the world that teenagers do care about others, and are willing to help others.

If anyone has a connection with Ellen, I think it would be great if she could give a shout out to this amazing bus driver and to the students and staff at Lafayette High School in Lafayette, LA.

Image Credit:  KATC

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