A BBQ dinner benefit was held Saturday, Nov. 10, at Tippecanoe Valley High School.

AKRON — A BBQ dinner benefit was held Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Tippecanoe Valley High School following the Oct. 30 tragedy in Fulton County where three children lost their lives and another one was seriously injured while crossing a road to board their school bus.

Indiana State Police say a school bus was stopped on SR 25 with the stop arm and exterior lighting activated in front of a mobile home park at 4684 North SR 25. As children crossed the road to get on the bus, four of the kids were struck by a Toyota Tacoma reportedly driven by Alyssa Shepherd, 24, Rochester.

Alivia Stahl, 9, and her twin brothers, Mason Ingle, 6, and Xzavier Ingle, 6, died at the scene from injuries sustained in the crash. Maverick Lowe, 11, was airlifted to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne and remains hospitalized. The three siblings attended Mentone Elementary School. Lowe attends Tippecanoe Valley Middle School.

In a show of unity, local residents and those from surrounding communities showed up for the dinner benefit in droves.

“Having three children of my own I can’t imagine something like this happening,” said Bourbon resident Race Berkey. “I just wanted to come and show support.”

According to an estimate by Mentone Fire Chief Mike Yazel, between 600-700 people had already attended the fundraiser by 6:15 p.m. 

“We’ve had a pretty steady crowd. I’d say we’re probably at 600 or 700 at this point,” Yazel stated, adding that they had cooked approximately 700 lb. of pork for the event. “We had 700 sandwiches made up – we started making sandwiches at 3:30, and now they’re making more.”

“A lot of people in the community came together to make this happen,” said Yazel. “It’s pretty impressive. Everything for this dinner was donated.”

“Tyson Foods out of Logansport donated 130 pork butts. The school let us use the facility. We staffed the event with volunteers from various fire and EMS agencies,” Yazel said.

All monies raised at this event will go toward funeral and medical expenses and other needs of the families.