The Wolfville, N.S., community is mourning the loss of 13-year-old Eli Young, who died amid the downpours in the region last week.
A memorial with flowers, some of Young’s favourite things, and painted rocks with messages from friends and family now stands where the youth lost his life on Thursday.
“Eli was just a sweet, loving boy,” said Claudia Preiss, who has known Young’s family for a long time. “He loved his sneakers, he loved his hoodies, he loved his hats, he skateboarded. He was all around a great kid.”
Preiss and others in the community have started fundraisers to help the family amid this tragedy. One such fundraiser has nearly reached $50,000.
“It’s so that I can support the family to offset the costs, but just, I thought financially, any little bit helps,” Preiss said.
Eli’s grandmother, Bernadette Samson, described Eli as a very happy, bright and cheerful boy.
“He was just so jolly, adventurous, and just starting his life," she said.
Hussein Rafih, owner of Joe's Food Emprium in Wolfville, is donating portions of menu sales to the cause.
“We figured, why not take the top seller and donate a couple of bucks for each one? We thought that way it would add up the most. ” he said.
“There’s only 5000 people that reside in Wolfville outside of the university, so we’re very heavily family oriented community so I find everybody knows everybody, so I just think when this happens to one person it really does affect everybody. There’s no real words for it. You go right to thinking it could have been my kid too. It was just such a freak accident and when you go home at night, you just hold on to your kids a little tighter. It’s tough," he added.
During a press conference on Friday, Premier Tim Houston said Nova Scotians “grieve together” over the loss of the youth.
“It’s a hard thing to process,” he said. “We’re experiencing a lot of trauma as a province.”
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Correction
This article has been updated with Bernadette Samson's correct last name.
