Latest news with #GoFundMes
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tucumcari community rallies around well known ‘Kix on 66' after devastating fire
TUCUMCARI, N.M. (KRQE) – It used to be a Denny's along Route 66 in northeast New Mexico, but in recent years took on the name Kix on 66. Devastation and heartbreak hit when the diner caught fire earlier this month. Now, the community is rallying around the business. Story continues below Environment: Fire in bosque area near Socorro grows to 400 acres Community: Bookstore pushes back against plans to remove homeless camp on property Don't Miss: APD retires Mounted Unit horse that has served for nearly a decade Silent auctions, GoFundMes, and other restaurants hosting fundraisers. The Tucumcari community is working together to support a mom-and-pop diner that watched their business go up in flames. 'Owning a restaurant's always been my lifetime goal ever since I was a teenager,' said Donna Halfhill, Co-owner of Kix on 66. In 2023, Donna Halfhill's truck driving career came to a full stop when she and her husband were handed the keys to Kix on 66, a diner in Tucumcari. 'In my late 50s, my dream come true, and my husband supported my dream. And it just, it was heartbreaking that morning. I was the one that had opened and to stand there and watch my dreams go up in smoke,' said Halfhill. She says it was 3 a.m. on April 4, and she was in the back when she smelt smoke. Halfhill checked to see if the oven was on fire but found no signs of a spark. 'So, I went up to the kitchen area and it got stronger. The smell got stronger. And then that's when I saw the flames coming out from our hood vents,' said Halfhill. The co-owner quickly evacuated the building and called 9-1-1. 'The firefighters, you know, did their best on trying to get it put out. But unfortunately, it was pretty much gone,' said Halfhill. Halfhill said the firefighters speculated the spark started from a ceased-up motor in the hood exhaust system of the diner's kitchen, which spread to its dining area. Leaving behind a trail of destruction. 'The building itself is okay, the outside, the shell, but the inside is totally, we'll have to rebuild the whole inside,' said Halfhill. The owners are waiting for a demo company to come in since the building's interior has been condemned and the roof is completely gone. 'As bad as it's a heartbreak, it's exciting to know that we can build this our way now,' said Halfhill. And the community is supporting them in the rebuild, one fundraiser at a time, 'We had volunteers come in to help bus the tables that morning and what have you,' said Halfhill. A restaurant across the way, Dels, hosted a fundraiser for Kix on Sunday. Providing food and a silent auction, all to raise money for the diner. 'We're just, you know, heartbroken for, not only for us, but the community that relied on us or depended on us and our employees,' said Halfhill. Halfhill said they were offered another location in town to set up temporarily, but the owners declined that offer because it would not be on route 66, sharing that it just wouldn't be the same. Kix on 66 hopes to rebuild and have its doors back open in 6 months. If you would like to donate to the restaurant, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Amazing Grace sends hope to Stillwater after family loses everything in fires
STILLWATER, Okla. (KFOR) – Scott McKinley and his family escaped the flames in Stillwater Friday, but when the smoke settled, all that was left of their home was hope and his bagpipes. 'I think we just really needed something therapeutic in that moment,' said McKinley. Mckinley has played bagpipes for years, and he has lived in Stillwater for just about the same amount of time. 'There's something about this community in Stillwater; it stays with you,' said McKinley. He and his wife found out the fires were headed their way, so they got prepared. McKinley said he and another neighbor tried fighting the flames. 'It was coming at us from the north, and we pretty much tackled it, with garden hoses,' said McKinley. But from the south, he said, the flames were too strong, and they overtook them. He and his wife grabbed their daughters and their pets, and he got his bagpipes, and they ran. 'We need music. It's just something I knew we would need,' said McKinley. The family came back later that night to find their home completely gone. Images posted on his Facebook page showed their home almost completely flattened. 'Worst fears have been confirmed…our house is in ashes, but family is safe, which is all that matters…it's funny how things like this make you truly thankful for the people in your life,' McKinley posted on Facebook. The next post, McKinley playing the tune Amazing Grace on his pipes. 'It was therapeutic for us. I had a moment where I looked in the mirror and where the only clothes that I had on were the ones I had on when the fire first came,' said McKinley. His video went everywhere online, with many putting #StillwaterStrong on it. 'We definitely needed it, and I think the community needed it,' said McKinley. Right now, his family is living with his parents, who aren't far from where their own home was. He said he's been through a lot of disasters in Stillwater and that his family is usually the one going to help out other people. 'I'm not used to this. Asking for help,' said McKinley. Several GoFundMes have been created to help out the McKinley family. You can donate by clicking here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
At least 4 Cincinnati families turn to GoFundMe to cover flu-related medical costs
This flu season has left some Cincinnati families swamped with medical costs, and their friends have started GoFundMes to help them out. Kim Francis, a project manager and cosmetologist in Mount Carmel, started a GoFundMe for her friend Sandra "Dri" Marquez, who's grappling with severe illness and the death of her partner at the same time. Marquez was hospitalized with the flu just days after her partner Danny Moore died at home from the same illness. "Her partner and her came down with what they thought was a bad cold," said Francis, who was Marquez's neighbor for 15 years and has been her best friend for longer. "It just all turned very quickly." Moore and Marquez's 8-year-old son was also hospitalized for four days at Cincinnati Children's with severe flu symptoms before being discharged last week, according to Francis. Marquez, who was vaccinated because she recently received a liver transplant, is stable and was taken off of ventilation this week. Still, her recovery is expected to be long. And because Moore was the breadwinner of the family, the GoFundMe is meant to help Marquez and her family get back on their feet. In the meantime, Marquez's 26-year-old daughter Ainslee has taken over caring for her 8-year-old brother and 16-year-old sister. "She's getting everyone to school," Francis said. "She's making lunches, she's doing homework, she's making sure people are fed." Other Cincinnati area families are also facing financial challenges from flu care or using GoFundMe to ask for help. Friends of two other Cincinnati area families started GoFundMes to help 6-year-old Sophia Olsen and high school senior Eden Manktelow, both of whom ended up in comas after experiencing life-threatening flu complications. One-third of all donations made through the website help people struggling to pay for medical care, former CEO Rob Solomon told CBS News in 2019, and data shows that the amount of money donated to help people cover medical expenses and other bills has risen over time. According to GoFundMe's annual report for 2024, fundraising for "essential expenses" quadrupled from the year prior. Flu hospitalizations and emergency department visits last week are each down by more than 20% from the previous week, according to the Ohio Department of Health's influenza activity tracker, but flu activity in the state is still "very high." Three Ohio children have died so far from flu-related causes during the 2024-25 flu season – one each in Allen, Gallia, and Cuyahoga counties, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Two of the children were not vaccinated. Bruce Vanderhoff, the director of Ohio health department, called influenza a "common" but "serious health threat." 'We urge parents to protect their kids," said Vanderhoff after Ohio saw its first pediatric flu-related mortality of the season, in late February. "It's not too late for parents and kids to get a flu vaccine. It may very well prevent you or your loved ones from getting seriously ill." Anyone who would like to donate to the family of Sandra "Dri" Marquez, or any other Cincinnati family struggling with flu-related costs, can do so using the following links. To donate to Dri and her family, click here: To donate to the family of Sophia Olsen, click here: To donate to Stacie Allen and her family, click here: This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati families use GoFundMe to help with flu-related costs
Buzz Feed
11-03-2025
- Buzz Feed
17 Hometown Scandals And Tragedies That Will Haunt Residents Forever
We recently covered a Reddit thread where folks shared the wildest and most tragic scandals that rattled their small towns. BuzzFeed Community members then submitted their own stories of the infamous incidents from their hometowns. Here's what they revealed: Note: Disturbing and graphic content ahead, including stories of murder, suicide, and domestic violence. 1. "When I first moved to this small town in Arkansas, there was a man who was fooling around with several married women in the area. One of the women was married to a local sheriff. The man was warned off by the sheriff and several of the husbands, but he continued the affairs. He was found in the front yard of his house with his hands tied behind his back, his manhood had been removed in the bathroom of the house, and the back of his head was gone from a shotgun blast. The shotgun was over 20 feet away from the body. No one was ever charged, and it was called the most determined case of suicide anyone had ever seen!" —Anonymous 2. "In my first year of high school (1995 to 1996), a friend asked me to homecoming. He was a nice kid, and I didn't have a date, thanks to my brother, who scared off most guys, so I said sure. We had fun and stayed friends all through high school. In 2013, he was arrested, tried, and found guilty of bludgeoning his parents to death. My brother is a retired detective. While the trial was going on, he told me about the possibility of this guy being acquitted due to a technicality. When he was convicted, I breathed a sigh of relief." — shannonm49e341999 3. "Back in 2019, a six-year-old boy went missing in my town. It was horrible, and everyone rallied around the parents and younger brother, including creating GoFundMes, building little shrines outside their home, and hosting candlelit vigils. It wasn't a HUGE story, but it made some national news networks. This went on for about two weeks before everything came crashing down. It came out that Child Protective Services had visited their house over a dozen times before the little boy's disappearance. Then, the parents stopped cooperating with the police and quickly became the main suspects." "His body was found a few days after these developments. I won't get into the details because they're sickening, but the parents did it. They were eventually found guilty and given lengthy sentences (although, in my opinion, the mom's isn't long enough). The little boy is still honored regularly, but no one talks about those two weeks before the truth came out." —Anonymous 4. "One summer, several mysterious fires broke out in the hills around town. Always buildings, always unoccupied. Fires are normal here during the summer, but investigators were having trouble finding a cause. Usually, it's lightning or accidental human causes, like a spark from a car. One day, a house occupied by an older couple was lit on fire, and they died. This time, however, someone had been caught on a few trail cams around the property, starting the fire. Turns out one of the property owners was trying to commit insurance fraud by burning down a house he owned and rented out in the hills, and to cover it up, he was burning other homes, too. He thought the old couple's house was vacant. He got charged with murder and arson and is still in prison, as far as I know." —Anonymous 5. "In the small town where I went to high school, a local pastor abducted a 15-year-old girl in my class and took her across several state lines. Her parents found a note that said she was going off to get married. Anyway, the authorities found her, brought her back to her parents, and put the pastor in prison. The whole thing was instantly swept under the rug. It's like I'm the only one who remembers it. In the same small town, some 20-odd years later, a man and his wife were found dead in a murder-suicide. A week later, the local paper had a joint obituary for the murderer and his victim. They had a joint funeral and were buried side-by-side." — certified_drapetomaniac 6. "All the kids of the people involved went to the same small school and lived in the same neighborhoods. First, one mother passed away, and all of the other (mostly married) mothers mysteriously started getting close to the recently widowed father. They took food to the family and stayed over to care for the kids. The recently widowed guy had about seven girlfriends — all mothers of his children's friends. And that is not all. A couple of years went by, and a bunch of parents started divorcing. They were horrible divorces that took a toll on everyone. We found out (I was about 13) that there was a group of swinger parents and a group of people who were cheating on their partners with another neighbor. The town started to become famous because it was where everyone was sleeping with each other.' Again, all the children of the involved parents went to the same small school and were around the same age." —Anonymous 7. "In eighth grade, one of my classmates died of a 'hunting accident,' but no one in school believed it was an accident. The way the other person described how it happened sounded too made up. Apparently, he was walking by a gun on a table, and his jacket zipper somehow caught the trigger and just happened to pull with enough force to shoot the other guy in the head the exact moment he bent over to pick up a shell. The kid who died was very popular and genuinely a nice guy. The guy who shot him was very much not. There were never any charges, but that kid didn't stay at school much longer, and I don't think it was just because he was a bit ostracized. He always had a bad vibe about him, and I'd honestly be surprised if he didn't end up in prison for at least a bit." — sisterhavoc 8. "I live in a tiny Kansas town. The police chief was caught so many times breaking into businesses and stealing. The local Dollar General staff had to follow him around whenever he was in the store. One night, our local pharmacy was broken into, and the story was whoever did it never really had time to steal the drugs, or so the police stated. Shortly after that, our grocery store was broken into, and a good-sized amount of cash was taken. When he was caught, he told the deputies that he was checking the security in the building. This man also sold several items online. I found out through a friend of mine who worked in the sheriff's office in the next town over. He was being investigated for missing items from the evidence room. They were able to prove he had sold them. Charges were never filed because our prosecutor's son was a big drug dealer in town, and guess where the missing drugs went? The chief was allowed to retire quietly and receive all his benefits." —Anonymous 9. "I went to college in a small town. It was a conservative, Christian college. There was this one professor who always gave me the creeps. One spring semester, he was suddenly not there, even though he was supposed to be. Turns out he inappropriately touched a first-year girl, and as 'punishment,' instead of jail time, he had to go to in-house therapy at a Christian counseling rehab place. Fast-forward a few years years. My college roommate and I went to the small-town carnival. There were some police officers there doing PSAs, and McGruff the Crime Dog (a local costumed character who worked with the police force) was there, being all handsy with the little kids. I saw him on break later with his costume head removed, and it was that same sketchy professor we had in college!" —Anonymous 10. "A fairly newly licensed RN who came from an old family in our town a few years ago was busted for 'checking up' on post-op patients in their homes and stealing their pain meds. He went through a felony diversion program and had his license suspended. During that time, he was promoted to a leadership administrative position and now is mayor. He had someone fired from their position due to a 'lack of transparency.' There was a news article about it online, but it was deleted from the site within a couple of hours." —Anonymous 11. "In the town where I grew up, the local newspaper was owned by a family. There was an incident in 1987 where one member of that family was kidnapped and buried alive in a box with air tubes to keep him alive for ransom. Apparently, the tubing was not large enough for adequate airflow, and the person died of suffocation. They brought the kidnappers to trial, and they were sentenced to death, but one of our governors (who also was from the same town and went to prison on other charges) commuted their sentence to life in prison. It was a huge deal at the time." —Anonymous 12. "A guy I went to high school with…his father put out a hit on his mother. He was a chiropractor and was soliciting people in his office. The first person took the money and skipped town. The next guy hid outside their house and shot this woman in the hand. The woman was a substitute teacher at my school. She was someone everyone loved — me personally because her son was a good friend of mine. Many people didn't like my friend or his brother, but they were always good to me. The father, though, used to drive us to Eagles games chain-smoking the entire time, leaving the window maybe an inch cracked. Everyone, including his children, hated him. He got like 25 years. He might be out now, actually. This happened in 2004." — kylemcgee 13. "I grew up in the 1990s in a SUPER Catholic, Midwest town. Two of our best basketball players/most popular girls were inseparable sisters. Apparently, they were in a throuple with the young, single girls' basketball coach. One of the sisters started to feel guilty and confessed to the priest. The priest decided to tell their parents for the girls' safety. The coach was asked to resign, but then he went on to coach a few towns over. The girls were both forced to quit basketball. The oldest lost her scholarship and the ability to go out of state for college, and the younger left to go to a boarding school. Finally, the priest was relocated for breaking confession rules or something. It was a major scandal that many people thought was made up. When I was older, however, my dad, the local police chief, confirmed it was true." —Anonymous 14. "This happened a few years ago. It was a normal night until suddenly, we got the news that multiple people had been stabbed in a house in my town. We learned that the mom, grandmother, a 5-year-old girl, and I believe her older brother were in the home at the time. The mom's ex-boyfriend (the little girl's father) had either negotiated his way in or forced his way into the house and stabbed everyone. The grandmother and the brother survived, but the little girl and her mother died. Someone I knew lived two houses down from the family, and she said a helicopter was on the street. This was only a few roads away from my home. I knew the teacher whose class the child was in. I can't imagine the trauma and pain the teacher and students, as well as family and friends, went through." —Anonymous 15. "My brother was the nicest guy, a great teacher, a union representative, and a hardworking village trustee in a suburb of Buffalo, NY. On the night of June 21, he killed himself. His ex-girlfriend was present at the time at their shared residence, and that night either assisted in his demise by pushing him to the brink or stood idly by while he spiraled out of control and ended his life. She did not call the authorities or any family members to help; she did not try to stop him or try to get him out of the house. She told a friend she told him to do it. The day after, she stole his cellphone (that the police did not secure) and deleted all her texts. She then held his possessions hostage, demanding money from my parents until lawyers got involved. She had his personal safe, which she did not have the combination to, opened by a locksmith and took god only knows what out of it." "He had broken up with her months prior, and they were working on selling the residence they co-owned. With a clause on the deed of 'right to survivorship,' she figured it better to have a dead ex and whole ownership of the house than a living ex and only 50% of the sale of the house." —Anonymous 16. "The daughter of the police chief got arrested for abusing a child at the daycare she worked at. Coincidentally, that was the week her police chief father suddenly realized that being able to go to the county jail website and look up the mugshot of anyone booked into the jail was 'wrong' and shut it down." — ambam8813 17. And: "Our DA is currently on the hook for felony gun charges and is no longer allowed to prosecute the big murder case in our county because, for some reason, he was in the neighboring county with the police department in 'law enforcement capacity' when they went to arrest the suspect and bring him to our county. There were Homeland Security officers there, so there was no need for him to be present, and there was especially no need for him to shoot a gun in the middle of a neighborhood. He shot into an apartment that was occupied by a woman and her three young children, one of whom was less than a few feet away from being shot." — t4ec93f6f1 Can you think of a particular scandal or incident that rocked your hometown? What happened? Tell us in the comments or share anonymously using this form. Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity. Dial 988 in the United States to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The 988 Lifeline is available 24/7/365. Your conversations are free and confidential. Other international suicide helplines can be found at The Trevor Project, which provides help and suicide-prevention resources for LGBTQ youth, is 1-866-488-7386. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger as a result of domestic violence, call 911. For anonymous, confidential help, you can call the 24/7 National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or chat with an advocate via the website. The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-800-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.
