A fundraiser is being organized this weekend to help cover the funeral costs for a Bloomington 8-year-old girl, who was killed last week in a Maryland highway crash.
Angelin “Angelli” Reyes Sanchez attended Bent Elementary School, where she was a third-grader.
Just before 6 a.m. Friday, her family’s SUV collided with a semi truck on Interstate 68, near Cumberland. Maryland State Police responding to the accident reported the young girl and her mother, Silvia Sanchez Ballesteros, were thrown from the vehicle.
Angelli died at the scene. Emergency vehicles took her parents, Jesus and Silvia, and four other passengers to the hospital. Her mother was hospitalized until Wednesday.
Money collected through fundraising also will help pay medical bills for Sanchez Ballesteros, organizers said. The family brought her home from the hospital on Wednesday.
Sanchez Ballesteros told WGLT her daughter's funeral will be Sept. 30.
Fundraiser at church parking lot
The benefit to support the Reyes Sanchez family begins at noon Sunday, Sept. 25, outside Saint Mary’s Catholic Church, 527 W. Jackson St., Bloomington.
Family and friends will be selling food, available to eat there or as take-out, said Mirabel Arias, the church’s Hispanic outreach director, adding the event, which is open to the public, will continue until the food runs out.
“We will have all kinds of delicious Mexican food. And I believe there will be music, too,” said Arias. Some items available include tacos, tamales, pambazos, enchiladas, fresh fruit and drinks, she said.
Arias said the event also will serve as a chance for the community to come together and show support for the Reyes Sanchez family.
People who can’t attend Sunday’s event, can donate through two online GoFundMe fundraisers. One has been established locally. The other is organized by family in Maryland.
Bent community heartbroken
Angelli attended Bent Elementary since kindergarten, said principal Guille Delgado.
This past week has been difficult for the close-knit community, said Delgado. Angelli was in Mrs. Martin’s bilingual third grade classroom.
Breaking down a little when sharing memories of the girl, Delgado said this week has been heartbreaking. She said she’s known the Reyes Sanchez family for years, and had taught one of Angelli’s three older brothers.
“She was a very shy little girl, who always walked with purpose, and always had a smile,” said Delgado. The principal recalled Angelli’s “Flying Horse” submission to The Pantagraph, where the young girl wrote about loving colors and about enjoying art, and drawing.
To make sure students were comforted by professionals, who could communicate well with them, District 87 had bilingual school psychologists and bilingual social workers on hand this week, said Delgado. The school even brought its bilingual therapy dog Mateo to sit with children, she said.
