ALBION, N.Y. — It was last week when Brennan Moody, 17, was killed in a car crash. He would have graduated from high school Friday.
Now the community is doing all it can to help his family out and prove that every single one of them is #AlbionStrong.
“It's healing. When you think nothing else could heal you right now, it's the most healing thing. To see this, the names of people that we know on those bags, the names of people we don't know, the heaviness of those bags representing many shirts within them, it is very healing to see what's going on over there," says Brennan’s mom, Rhiannon Moody.
As word of Brennan’s death got out, the community immediately rallied around his family to honor the young man known for being modest and kind.
"He was so talented too, so incredibly talented, more than he even knew, and I guess, just that the voice, the voice that he had, the smile that he brought to people," Rhiannon Moody said.
Added Brennan’s girlfriend, Angel Rushing: "He loved complements when he was performing and everything like that, but he's not performing right now, so he would hate all these people here. He would hate the attention, yeah."
To help his family, Kelly Brannan started a T-shirt fundraiser using #AlbionStrong.
"To show the community that we can come together and do something great. Most importantly the kids, the future, you know, that's what we have, you know, and we want to show them that we can rally together and be here to support them during this difficult time," Brannan said.
So far they've raised more than $5,700 for Brennan's family and about $1,000 for the student still at Erie County Medical Center.
"We thought maybe $100 or $200, so we're really surprised to see the amount that we were able to do," Brannan said.
The senior class will wear special T-shirts at graduation rehearsal Friday.
"It's community, community that I didn't know that was there and waiting when events like this happened, so it's amazing it really is amazing," Rhiannon Moody said.
There’s also a chicken dinner fundraiser scheduled for August 11.
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