Bloomfield, N.Y. - Mitchell Duvall is in the 8
th grade at
Bloomfield Middle school. He cannot see pictures of a recent crash without seeing the face of his classmate Meagan Henry.
“It was just a really bad crash,” he says. “I miss her.”
The two were paired up for a history project that was not quite complete. “One of the last nights we had to work on it in class Meagan had gotten in the accident so I finished it up for her,” he says.
Seven teenagers were in the truck that rolled three times after rounding a sharp right curve on November 27th. Jessica, Joelle, Morgan and Meagan Henry were all injured.
Three of the girls remain hospitalized with serious injuries. Teachers and classmates in Bloomfield are pitching in to help the family with mounting stress and hospital bills.
“We help each other, we’re strong,” says Bloomfield Middle School Principal Nancy Gerstner. “We always lean on each other during times like this.”
Teachers are signing up on a calendar to make sure the family has a hot meal every night. “We recognize that the family has to spend time at the hospital and we didn’t want them to have to worry about meals,” says Dr. Gerstner.
Mitchell Duvall and members of his 8th grade class are organizing a movie night to raise money for Meagan’s hospital bills. “I’m hoping to raise at least $250 to $500 dollars – if it’s more that would be awesome,” he says.
Members of the senior class still wear bracelets to remember a fellow classmate killed over the summer. They are grateful to have an opportunity to pray for a better outcome for twins Jessica and Joelle Henry.
“It’s hard on all of us,” says senior class co-president Alyssa Rosenbauer. “We really want to be there because it’s not easy going through that.”
With only 80 members of the Class of 2013 – what happened is so personal to so many.
“Being such a close community it really hurts is, it hurts us all,” says Matthew Zabrowski who is class treasurer.
There are seven children in the Henry family but they are clearly part of a much larger family defined by their school and their community. “We’re a very small district, a very small community,” says Dr. Gerstner. “We care about each other and want to help each other.”
