Local benefit to support family of 5-year-old killed by crash
Published 8:00 am Tuesday, January 8, 2019
After a head-on vehicle collision last month that killed a 5-year-old Bowling Green girl, a local band will play a benefit show this weekend for her family and her two sisters, who remain hospitalized.
“We’ve always kind of had a soft spot for children in need,” said Brian Jarvis, co-owner of Tidball’s, 522 Morris Alley, which will host Daniel Shultz and his band, Dan Luke and The Raid, for a show at 9 p.m. Saturday.
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The event is not ticketed, but admission fees at the door will go to the family, along with a portion of the sales made that night.
The benefit show is just one way community members are showing their support after the three girls, all under age 10, were severely injured in a car crash on Cemetery Road last month.
According to Kentucky State Police, the girls were injured when their vehicle, a 2011 Ford Focus, was struck by a trailer that detached from a pickup truck. Their car then crossed into oncoming traffic, colliding head-on with a 2017 Honda Odyssey van.
While others involved in the collision were either unharmed or treated for injuries not considered to be life-threatening, the children were flown by medical helicopter to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
Jude Valerie Wilson, 5, died Wednesday at Vanderbilt. Funeral services were Monday, and Jude was buried at Bowling Green Gardens, her obituary said.
Her sisters – Hannah, 9, and Norah, 7 – remain hospitalized and are recovering from their injuries, according to a GoFundMe page created for the family at www.gofundme.com/jude-norah- and-hannahs-medical-bills.
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That page has drawn an outpouring of support by raising nearly $50,000 for the family and has been shared at least 15,000 times on Facebook.
On Saturday, the family also drew support from Grammy-nominated rock band Panic! At The Disco after the girls’ mother requested a hospital visit ahead of the band’s tour stop in Nashville later this month.
“We have reached out to the Bishop family,” the group announced in a tweet. “Please continue to send them positive vibes and support. Here’s a link to their @gofundme page. Donate if you are able to, or help by spreading the word.”
Cage the Elephant, a Grammy Award-winning rock band from Bowling Green, also tweeted its support.
“Please help this family in dire need of positivity. The parents lost their 5 year old daughter and their other two daughters lost their little sister and are still in the hospital themselves. They are from our hometown. Here is a link to their @gofundme.”
As he prepares for Saturday’s show, Jarvis is expecting a sell-out crowd. Offering a platform to those in need is one of the most rewarding things he can do with his business, he said.
“We have the venue and the pedestal to help others,” Jarvis said.