If losing a loved one isn’t difficult enough, many families are often hit extra hard by the reality of how expensive burying their loved one can be. This was the reality for Whitney Barton and her three children after the tragic death of her husband, Jason.
35-year-old Jason was involved in a car accident late in the evening of January 3 which ended up taking his life. He had no life insurance, so the family has to cover funeral costs completely out of pocket.
That’s when Barton’s 9-year-old daughter, Kaylei, stepped up to help her family through this tragic experience. The sweet girl decided to hold a bake sale in order to raise funds to help cover her dad’s funeral costs.
On January 7, the Fairdale girl set up a table at a local Dairy Queen where she offered up red velvet cupcakes with sprinkles, chocolate chip cookies, and other homemade items.
The community response was so much bigger than anyone could have anticipated, much less hoped for. Kaylei’s efforts were reported by local news station WAVE-5 which helped spread the word quickly, and soon cars were lining up around the corner to support the little girl and her heartbreaking mission. One couple, Jack and Debbie, even donated $1000 to the funeral fund with Jack saying:
“The pandemic won’t stop us from caring about other people. As my wife said, she lost her father when she was in the fourth grade and still remembers what it was like. We knew the kind of pain the young lady was going through and we wanted to help.”
News of the bake sell brought the community’s attention to the GoFundMe page the family had set up right after Jason Barton’s accident so that friends and extended family could assist in covering the funeral costs. Their original goal was to raise $3,000.
By the end of Thursday, the fund had accumulated over $35,000 in donations, and as of today, donations have reached $47,502. Not only will this more than cover the funeral expenses, but it will also help Barton’s family adjust to life without him there to support them.
In a message on the fundraising page, Whitney Barton shared:
“I just want to tell you guys how blessed and how thankful and grateful I am for all of these donations, because never in 1 million years would I ever thought people would care this much over someone who they have not ever even met,” she wrote. “We are all so heartbroken and so very lost but your donations and your prayers are what’s going to help us get through this terrible situation and we will live on in his memory thanks to all of you.”
Of the overwhelming support from so many complete strangers, Kaylei said:
“I cried yesterday because of all the people who actually cared.”
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