Help Dania rebuild her family's life

On Memorial Day, an alert showed up on our telephones as we were gathered as a family for the holiday. There had been a shooting in which one man died and a 10-year old girl was critically injured. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong. Still, it is not unusual for news of a killing to be alarming in a small town like ours. Over the course of the next week, the uneasy feeling stayed with me until Dania texted me a picture of her daughter, Dania, on life support in the ICU. It was devastating to see such a beautiful young girl in a coma. The tubes were larger than she was. As time has progressed, more details of the tragedy have emerged. Stalked by an old boyfriend, her sister's husband was the gunman's target. When the gunman opened the back door and began to shoot, he didn't just hit the target of his jealousy. He hit 10-year old Dania and endangered everyone else in the car, including Dania's little brother. And they witnessed their uncle dying.

Dania is a strong, beautiful, and vibrant young girl. She has healed. But there has been a toll on the family. Her mother lost her sole means of transportation. The police confiscated it as evidence. Still in the impound, even the investigators have advised her to junk it. The blood is everywhere. She has not worked for the past month while she was camped out at her daughter's side. Her aunt lost her husband. Her cousins lost their dad. And they all experienced the sheer terror of that day. A day when all seemed to be fine in the world until that one singular moment when their world was destroyed in that senseless act.

They visited us yesterday. I could feel the pall of darkness that hung over the family and a sense of being very lost. We did not discuss the medical bills. I'm not sure the bills have even begun to arrive. Victims of crime assistance will not be ruled on or arrive for another 6 months. We watched as the 4 of them crawled into the sister's small 2-door truck. It refused to turn over. On the fourth attempt, it started. My heart sank at every fail. What if that sole means of transportation fails?

We can't do much to help them, but this much we can do. Please help us give hope to these wonderful people.