Foothills Christian High School

SPARKS FAMILY FUND - SAN DIEGO, CA

On the morning of July 12th Brad and Crystal Sparks, along with their six children and their yet unborn child, were traveling home to San Diego from San Antonio, Texas. The family, including Cameryn, 13, Bailey, 12, Landon, 10, Sadie, 7, Jackson 5, and Wilson, 3 had just spent two wonderful weeks visiting close friends in Texas.   As they drove down the pitch-dark highway in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere, a tragedy occurred, and they lost control of their vehicle. The Suburban veered from the road and rolled multiple times in a horrific accident that landed it upside down in an area that passing cars could not see them.  The Suburban had been almost entirely crushed, leaving both Brad and Crystal, who is 7 months pregnant, and the family suspended.  Unable to move, Brad was able to use voice command to access his Apple Watch to call 911 for help.  Some of the children were able to release themselves from their seat belts and crawl out and made their way to the side of the road, hoping to find help.  But the parents, Brad and Crystal were unable to remove themselves for over an hour.

Help came but, not soon enough for everyone. Even with the help of two Life Flight helicopters and six ambulances, two of Brad and Crystal’s children could not be saved. The couple’s beautiful daughter Bailey, age 12, and their sweet son Landon, age 10, both suffered fatal injuries and are now with the Lord.  Crystal was Life-flighted from the scene taken to the hospital. It took the Jaws of Life to remove Brad from the vehicle and he and the four children were rushed to two different hospitals.

The family sustained a seemingly endless number of critical injuries. Brad was left with a fractured face and a broken knee. Cameryn suffered a broken clavicle and severe cuts all over her body. Crystal has suffered a punctured lung, broken ribs, a broken shoulder, and a shattered foot in addition to extreme wounds on her body.  It is a miracle that six of the eight family members were able to walk away from this horrific accident. They are now beginning the slow process of recovery. Nonetheless, the excruciating physical pain and the unbearable, overwhelming grief is more than just about anyone could bare. Despite this, the family stands firm in their faith and trusts that their God will be glorified. The couple’s unborn child appears to be healthy and is maintaining a strong heartbeat. The family looks forward to welcoming the baby in October.

This is a loving San Diego family that is incredibly involved in their church, putting God first before all else in their lives. Crystal is a devoted mother who home schools all their children.   Brad is a hard worker and a dedicated employee for Symons Fire Protection in the San Diego suburb of Poway.

We ask for your prayers and assistance in supporting this young and precious Godly family as they attempt to physically and emotionally recover from this unimaginable tragedy.

This GoFundMe Campaign will help the Sparks with the impossible financial fallout of this fatal car accident. Your financial gift will help cover funeral costs, medical bills, grief and family counseling, vehicle replacement, daily expenses, and necessities needed to bring their new child into this world next October.

All donations will be made in the name of Foothills Christian Church, a 501 (c ) (3) organization. All donations will be fully tax-deductible.

Even though this GoFundMe page states Foothills Christian High School it shares the same tax ID as Foothills Christian Church.  This account is managed by Foothills Christian Church and all proceeds will be directed to the Sparks Family in whole.

Please donate what you can, and please forward this GoFundMe page to everyone you know.

Hi,

We are trying to raise money for a batting cage for this great group of young men and ball players.  As a small school with limited space and resources, these players do not have the benefit of a field to call their own for practices and games.  Field practice they do get is rented time, and funding limitations require that at least half of their practices occur on a small open dirt lot behind the school.  The space is not large enough to hit, so they would truly benefit from construction of a batting cage so these boys can work on their swings.

The Knights team is good under the leadership of Coach Dave Lewis.  They have averaged 19 wins in the past 5 season, and were recently  moved up to Division 3 after a successful 2018 season.  Due to school size, they typically roster 14 or 15 players on a single varsity team (freshman - seniors) with all who want to play welcome.  The team success comes with an incredible comradery of players, respect for coaches, and most importantly their shared faith in God.  The team ends each practice and game in prayer for opportunity given, win or loose.   All-in-all this creates an outstanding environment for individual and team development,   What is lacking is facilities. 

A batting cage would be a great addition to the "back lot" practice area and really improve the quality of reps these players get.  Our goal is to have this funded and constructed by January in time for the spring 2019 season.  This batting cage project intends to purchase a commercial grade batting cage & net, L-shaped pitching screen, as well as additional improvements to level the cage area, install turf, and select fence panels  to keep the area  safe.  The installation will be by volunteers including the players to learn work ethic  and ownership of facilities that will benefit them and others players to come behind them.

Words from Coach Dave:
         "We are very proud of our baseball team at Foothills Christian! Last year we were 20-12 and  number 2 seed in the playoffs. As a small school of less than 240 students competing against schools with as many as 1500, we have been successful enough to compete in division 3. We must rent our practice  and game fields for everything we do. This includes each player finding transportation each day. With a batting cage built on the school grounds we will have a place for our athletes to practice while saving on some practice fees. To be able to walk out and use our own batting cage would really benefit our team in so many ways!"

The team will be praying for the success of this fundraiser and will include you in prayer as well in team practices and games.  Even if you cannot financially help at this time, your prayers for the team development and success will certainly be of benefit.

Foothills Christian High School is an affiliate of Foothills Christian Church.  Donations should be tax deductible, but we also encourage you to check with tax professional on this.

God Bless!

Foothills Christian Knights Baseball Team