Community Holds Benefit Dinner To Help Family Of Flash Flooding Victims
PLUM (KDKA) -- A charity dinner was held Sunday evening to benefit the family of the mother and her two daughters who lost their lives during flash flooding earlier this year.
Brenna, Mikaela and Kimberly Griffith were all killed in the deadly flash flood along Washington Boulevard back in August.
It was a tragedy most could not comprehend - flash flooding on Washington Boulevard, trapping 45-year-old Kimberly Griffith and her two daughters – Brenna, 12, and Mikaela, 8, inside their family car.
"The Griffiths were good customers of mine, and one day about two weeks after the tragedy, people were coming in talking about it, and my mom got really choked up and said it would be really nice if we got together and did something really nice for the family," said Mark Stockmano, the organizer of the dinner.
Out of that grew the idea of Sunday night's spaghetti dinner in Plum, the community that has embraced the rest of the Griffith family since the tragedy.
"You don't know what to say because you don't want to hurt his feelings, so you just want to be there to support him," said Melissa Colchagie, a dinner volunteer.
"On a personal level, its acting as a healing process," Jennifer Berrott, Mikaela's teacher, added. "I think it's working the same way for the kids too; somehow that we can all pull together and just take some time to remember them and how they've touched our lives."
Kimberly's husband and their two surviving children didn't attend the dinner, but a close family friend offered a word of thanks on their behalf.
"What I hope is that this family sees a community coming in here today who are all thinking of them, and feeling for them, and hopefully it will give them a little bit of strength to move forward," said Donna Giuliano, of Plum.
The spaghetti dinner was one of several planned in the upcoming week. Next Saturday at the Boyce Park Ski Lodge, the Teacher's Association is holding another event for students and adults throughout the afternoon and evening.
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Woman, 2 Children Found Dead After Flash Flooding On Washington Blvd.
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