Kona Ice Donates To Boston Marathon Survivor's Medical Expenses
TOWSON, Md. (WJZ) -- She's the Towson pre-school teacher who was seriously injured in the Boston Marathon bombing. Now the community is reaching out to help 29-year-old Erika Brannock.
Ron Matz has more on just one effort that's happening every Thursday.
Kona Ice is on the street. Joni Elmore will bring her truck to the Towson Farmer's Market every Thursday and donate 15 percent of her sales to Brannock, the Towson woman who lost part of her left leg at the Boston Marathon bombing.
"I was thinking about it and said Erika's from Towson. Everything's going on around Towson. I'm going to be at the Farmer's Market in Towson every Thursday. Why don't I try to do something there? So a portion of the sales every Thursday will be donated right to Erika's fund," said Elmore. "It hit close to home. We hear about these tragedies on the news all the time, and sometimes I think we become complacent. Why not give back? This girl needs help and I think we can try to help her somehow."
Scott Massengill's family and Brannock are close friends.
"Erika's very close to my family. She's very good friends with my wife Stacy and she's our babysitter for our two boys. We've known her very well for the last two years so it obviously hit us very hard," Massengill said.
The Brannock Fund is raising money to help Brannock pay her medical expenses.
"I can only imagine the extent of it [medical costs]. Obviously we have very lofty goals as we're unsure what the expenses will entail, but our goal is to accommodate anything and everything that we possibly can to support Erika," said Tim Bojanowski, a volunteer. "It's amazing. The actual support from this community has been overwhelming. While we've been so happy with all the people who have come together, we still need so much help."
Elmore carries a donation can on the truck. You can make a contribution anywhere she appears.
"We leave a donation can on the truck too. Not only do I put it up every Thursday at the Farmer's Market. I decided to stick it in the window every time I go somewhere," said Elmore. "I was at a carnival this week and people who don't even know Erika or know anything about it look at the can and read it and put money in."
"The fund is up and running. We've had a lot of great support locally. We're trying to raise as much as we can for Erika in the hopes of defraying any out of pocket costs that she would have, and obviously we don't know what that's going to be," Massengill said.
After the bombing, Brannock spent a total of 65 days in the hospital and she could face more surgery.
"She was the longest hospitalized victim in Boston," Massengill said. "She returned home and spent another 15 days at Kernan in a rehab facility. She's been home now for a couple of weeks and is basically adjusting to her new circumstances."
If you'd like to make a donation to the Erika Brannock Fund click here.
