Funeral cost donations pour in for families of six Barrie, Ont., crash victims

A volunteer-run fundraiser has gathered nearly $50,000 for the families of six young people who were killed in a car crash last weekend in Barrie, Ont.

Organizer Mary-Anne Frith says she was surprised at how fast donations poured in less than a day after the GoFundMe page went live.

Frith doesn’t personally know the families of Curtis King, River Wells, Jason O’Connor, Luke West, Jersey Mitchell and Haley Marin, but says her group Ripple of Kindness started the fundraiser because shaken community members were looking for a way to support them.

She says the fundraiser, which aims to help cover funeral costs, has been aided by social media, as donations have come in from across Canada and even from other counties.

Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman has been among those promoting the fundraiser, thanking donors in a Twitter post on Tuesday morning.

A vigil is being planned for Saturday to remember the lives lost.

Barrie police are still investigating the crash that happened in a rural area over the weekend.

Police have said four men and two women who were reported missing on Saturday were believed to be the six people found dead in the crash early Sunday, which had not been reported when officers came across the scene.

Those missing had been identified by police as King, Wells, O’Connor, West, Mitchell and Marin.

On Monday evening, family members were escorted by police to the lip of a large concrete pit in a construction zone where the crash took place and could be seen tossing flowers into it.

The City of Barrie says the intersection has been closed since the spring and the area is currently the site of a municipal construction project.

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