For the past week, Flin Flonners have been responding with generosity to a young family coping with a tragic loss.
Clayton Nagy, 26, passed away suddenly at the end of May. Left behind were his partner Caitlin Waly, two-year-old son and a baby on the way.
Andrea Lam, close friends with both Waly and Nagy since childhood, decided to gather support for Waly and her family through a crowdfunding campaign.
Last week, Lam created a campaign on the website Youcaring.com. Within hours, she was “blown away” by the response from friends, family and strangers.
“Two hours later, it was up to $2,000 or $3,000,” she said, “And I just kept getting emails.”
As the donations went up, and at the suggestion of donors, Lam increased the fundraising goal on the site several times, from $7,000 to $10,000 to the current goal of $22,000.
As of Tuesday morning, contributions had raised to $21,472 on the site. The staff at Northern Rainbow’s End also agreed to accept in-person donations from community members. As of Monday, $1,950 had been collected at the store.
As the donations and words of sympathy roll in, Nagy’s family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support, Lam said.
“Every time I give them an update, they are crying,” she said.
“There was one comment on the site, that said, ‘Please accept this gift from us, and know that even strangers can care,’ and it was so heartwarming to see,” Lam added.
With the crowdfunding campaign, Lam is hoping to take some stress off Waly’s shoulders and provide some financial security for the young family as they cope with their loss.
“I’m hoping that Caitlin can feel a little better,” she said. “It was a complete shock to her, and she doesn’t know what she’s going to do…she is seven months pregnant and she is all alone. It’s just so sad.”
Lam plans to keep the crowdfunding site open as long as donations are still coming in.
“I’ll keep it open until I stop seeing emails coming,” she said.
The crowdfunding site for Caitlin Waly and family can be found at www.youcaring.com/caitlin-waly-578271.
