Strangers work together to pay for child’s funeral

In the midst of all the sadness and grief experienced by many Franklin County residents in the last several days, one man decided it was time to do more than just grieve – he decided it was time to act.

Through his determination and dedication, the generosity of people in and out of the area and the connections made on a social networking site, this man was able to facilitate a movement that helped a devastated family have one less thing to worry about.

58-year-old Don Parker has lived in Colbert County, just over the county line, for most of his life but he has strong ties to the Russellville area.

Parker has served in numerous positions in Franklin County and in the city of Russellville and has maintained a local architecture business for many years, so when he received word that his friends and neighbors in Phil Campbell and East Franklin had been devastated by the storms last week, his heart ached to help them.

Parker said he had recently signed up for Facebook, a popular social networking site, around three weeks ago and as he was browsing his Facebook account after church this past Sunday, he read several accounts of the devastation in Franklin County.

“Then I saw this one post from a lady who said it was announced at her church that 10-year-old Ethan Knox’s family could not afford his funeral expenses,” Parker said. “It just really stayed on my mind and I just said, ‘They need help.”

Parker, whose wife, Donna, passed away six months ago, said he knew how expensive a funeral could be, and he hated for this family to have to worry about that when they had lost so much.

“This was a dignity question, and I felt little Ethan shouldn’t go out of this world in debt,” he said. “I didn’t know Ethan or his family. I just knew that they needed help and I wanted to help them.”

Parker drove to Akins Funeral Home in Russellville and wrote a check for $100 to help with the funeral expenses, but he still wanted to get other people involved.

“I’m old enough to remember the telethons they used to have for various causes issuing challenges for people to raise money,” Oliver said. “I’m a retired architect so I first issued a challenge on my Facebook page to professionals like architects, doctors and lawyers to donate $50 to $100 and a challenge to others to donate at least $10.

“I had around 200 friends so I figured that if half of them gave, that would be about $1,000 that could help this family.”

After issuing the challenge, Parker said he had several Facebook friends who wanted to repost the challenge, and one suggested he create a Facebook “event” so people could actually be invited to take part in the challenge to help Knox’s family.

“It just really took off from there with people wanting to help,” Parker said. “Everybody right now is wanting to do something and they need a cause – an address, a face, a person to help – and the support for this was amazing.”

Spruce Pine native Candace Grissom Baum found out about the need through Facebook and knew she wanted to help.

“This was a local Phil Campbell child, but most importantly, it broke my heart to think not only did a family lose their child, but now they would be burdened with funeral expenses,” Baum said. “Just hearing about this child and family was enough to make me want to help them.”

Parker said he had a Spruce Pine native living in Wisconsin and people as far as Oklahoma to contact him wanting to donate to Knox’s funeral expenses.

“I was thinking at first that I’d leave the Facebook event open for a month or so and let money keep coming in to help get the funeral paid off,” Parker said. “I talked to Akins and they said they weren’t going to press the family, so I knew that we’d have a little while to still collect some money.”

What Parker wasn’t prepared for, however, was what he heard from Akins Funeral Home officials Monday night when he went for Knox’s visitation.

“At 6 p.m. Monday night, there was only $900 left for the funeral expenses to be paid in full,” Parker said. “By 8:15, word got out the balance was down to around $300 and a lady called her brother who is from Florence and now lives in Pensacola. The man’s name is Mike Russell and he called the funeral home and paid the balance, so little Ethan’s funeral expenses were paid in full last night.”

Russellville resident Charlotte Green, whose husband, Justin, works with the Russellville Fire Department, couldn’t believe how quickly the needs were met.

“I didn’t know the family, I just knew the story,” Green said. “I called to make a donation after seeing the need on Facebook and someone had just called right before me and paid the balance in full. How awesome is that?”

Janice Taylor, who works for Akins Funeral Home, said they have never seen anything like this.

“There have been so many people to donate, I can hardly keep up with them all,” Taylor said. “Individuals, church groups, the VFW and several local businesses – there have just been so many people wanting to help.”

Parker said when he was finally able to meet Ethan’s grandparents, Mike and Evelyn Ashton, who raised Ethan since he was two years old, he couldn’t wait to tell them the good news.

“Ethan’s grandmother and aunt were receiving friends and family while his grandfather stood to the side because you know how us men are – he was very stoic,” Parker said. “I introduced myself and told them we had been raising money to pay for Ethan’s funeral and that we had raised enough to pay for it all, and he just hugged my neck and broke down. They were all very grateful.”

Parker said he was glad to help because it was the right thing to do and because he might need the same kind of help someday from others.

“It really made a difference to have a face and that’s why I really wanted to go to the visitation so I could see his grandparents – so I could meet them,” he said.

Parker said he would officially close the Facebook “event” on Tuesday since the funeral expenses were paid for, but he said the family still needed money for a grave marker so any money the funeral home receives will go towards the marker. When it’s paid for, the money will then go to the family, whose home was destroyed.

“This was a huge group effort and I know it would have been something my wife, Donna, would have wanted me to do,” Parker said. “I’m proud people showed their support and kindness to this family in need. It was just amazing.”