Fundraiser to aid families of two killed in September car crash

LAFAYETTE, Ind. – On Sept. 18, the families of Kimberly Burge and Jaden Harvey were left shattered when the two were killed in a crash on U.S. 52.

What started out as a birthday dinner for Burge's 17-year-old son, Rylan, who was critically injured in the crash, ended with unimaginable grief, a quest for answers and a mountain of expenses.

A fundraiser Saturday in Fowler, aims to ease at least some financial burdens and give those who attend a reason to smile, a rare occurrence since that September night.

The all-day benefit starts at 9 a.m. at the Fowler Bowling Center, 305 5th St., which Holly Andres operates with her husband. Food will be served throughout the day ― breakfast, lunch and dinner ― including pulled pork barbecue.

Cost of the food is by donation only ― give what you can, Andres said.

There will be a silent auction, a raffle and a 50-50 split, where the winning donor gets half the money raised in the split and the rest is added to the fundraising total.

The event will also include a bounce house and a bake sale. Organizers say that Mothers Against Drunk Driving will be in attendance.

In October, prosecutors charged Brent Wills with two counts of drunk driving resulting in death, two counts of reckless homicide with a vehicle, as well as drunk driving with serious bodily injuries, and lesser charges of drunk driving.

Prosecutors believe Wills was traveling northbound on County Road 400 West at 62 mph and ran the stop sign at U.S. 52, hitting Kimberly Burge's westbound car on the driver's side.

Kimberly and Jaden were killed in the impact. Rylan, according to prosecutors, suffered a fractured neck, a broken clavicle, an occipital fracture, a lacerated spleen and pulmonary contusions.

"Rylan was in the hospital about three weeks," said Andres, who considered Kimberly Burge a second mom. "He's made amazing progress considering his injuries."

But, Andres told the Journal & Courier, his recovery comes with mounting medical bills and the expense of traveling to multitude of checkups.

"His brother, Brandon (Fultz), works, so he needs to take off from work to take Rylan to his appointments," Andres said. "That's expensive."

Andres and her mother, Gail Schindler, who had been friends with Kimberly Burge since the two were in kindergarten, helped the family clear out her apartment, a task that compounded the heartache.

"She was an amazing person," Schindler told the Journal & Courier. "She was the type of person that if you needed something she was there. Like, she'd drive by my daughter's house and she'd stop to pick weeds.

"She'd say, 'No big deal.' That was just her."

The friendship of Schindler and Burge, of Oxford, was a constant, even as their lives got busy and get-togethers were less frequent.

"We'd just pick up where we left off," Schindler said.

Her emotions left Schindler's voice crackling as she spoke to the J&C nearly two months after the crash.

"My mom is taking this extremely hard," Andres said. "That was her soul sister. And now her three sons are left without a mother," Andres said, "and Erik (Harvey) has lost his only child."

Rylan, Andres said, lost his best friend on the night of his birthday dinner.

"And he didn't even get to go to Jaden's funeral," held while Rylan was still hospitalized.

The families discovered just how much Kimberly and Jaden were loved when the outpouring of generosity flooded their lives and, in the case of Burge, the location of her funeral.

"I think there was about a thousand people at her celebration of life," Andres said. "I mean, we knew people loved her. Everybody did. But you just never know how many lives one person touches until they're gone."

Jaden, a senior at Benton Central High School in Oxford, was involved in the school's building-trades program, according to his obituary, and was working on a house in Fowler.

"... Jaden discovered he loved working with his hands," the tribute stated. A fan of anime and lover of animals, his pets, Chloe, Eli and Amos, were listed in the obituary along with the survivors and those who had preceded him in death.

Jaden died 11 days before he would have turned 18 and was buried two days before his birthday.

Wills and Coyote Crossing Golf Club, where the accused had served as golf director, have since been named as defendants in a civil lawsuit filed by the Burge and Harvey families. Wills no longer appeared on the golf club's list of staffers.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Fundraiser to aid families of two killed in September car crash