[Nfbmo] Fund to help CCB victums.

fred olver goodfolks at charter.net
Mon Dec 20 21:35:52 UTC 2010


Surviving blind students identified and fund started to help them and others

By Howard Pankratz The Denver Post

Posted: 12/20/2010 11:50:29 AM MST

Updated: 12/20/2010 12:38:44 PM MST

 

Two students at the Colorado Center for the Blind seriously injured Friday when a car slammed into a Littleton bus stop were identified today as Helen G.

Sydnor and Carissa Ubersox.

 

A third student, David Nanney, was killed in the collision.

 

The names were released by Lt. Sean Dugan of the Littleton Police Department and Littleton mayor protem Debbie Brinkman.

 

Both Sydnor, 18, and Ubersox, 26, live at the Pinnacle at Mountain Gate apartment community in Littleton and attend the Colorado Center for the Blind.

 

Brinkman said Sydnor is from Virginia and Ubersox is from Wisconsin.

 

Brinkman said that a special fund is being established called The CCB Healing Fund in honor of the 47-year-old Nanney.

 

The fund will help cover the costs of grief counselors and "other healing needs the school may have" and to help support Nanney's family, particularly his

19-year-old daughter who is currently in college, Brinkman said.

 

Grief counselors, therapists and other professionals will meet with the students and the CCB staff when they return from their two-week holiday in early

January, said Brinkman.

 

Brinkman said she and the school's executive director Julie Deden visited with Sydnor on Sunday.

 

Brinkman said that the tragedy has struck the CCB students and staff very hard.

 

"They (the students) are so tight," said Brinkman. "They live together, they commute together, they go to school together. I don't think people really understand

the depth of the tightness."

 

She said that people who live in most U.S. communities don't see a large contingent of blind people on their streets. But she said the situation in Littleton

is completely different - the blind students and staff of the CCB are on the streets of the Denver suburb all the time.

 

"Every day we watch these amazing students navigate through the streets of Littleton," said Brinkman. "They are the most independent and stubborn folks

you'll ever meet. They are conquering their blindness with confidence. They are a proud group," said the Littleton mayor protem. "But today they are broken.

They have lost a friend and are watching as two more friends work to heal their broken bodies. They are trying to understand how this could happen."

 

Brinkman said in her hospital visit with Sydnor, the young woman told her she recalled the impactbut remembered most a good Samaritan who rushed to her

and the aid of her friends. Brinkman said the good Samaritan took off her coat and put it under Sydnor's head and removed her shirt to help stop Nanney's

bleeding.

 

"She (the good Samaritan) spoke words of comfort and calm to the three who lay helpless on the ground," Brinkman said.

 

Brinkman said Sydnor is recovering from a broken pelvis, a broken wrist and a broken nose.

 

The Healing Fund has been established at the Colorado Business Bank, 2409 W. Main St. Littleton, Co., 80120.

 

Brinkman is encouraging people to mail checks or drop off cash at the bank. The checks should be made payable to: "The CCB Healing Fund". The fund will

be administered by Carol Elzi at CCB.

 

Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or

hpankratz at denverpost.com.


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