PERRY — People opened their hearts and wallets Friday night during a fundraiser to help cover medical expenses of four boys injured last month while playing with gasoline.
The fundraiser was held at The Peak, a facility that has a preschool and also offers gymnastics, tumbling, cheerleading and martial arts programs. The event featured pictures with Santa, a silent auction, games, a bake sale, entertainment, helicopter rides, local vendors and fire safety instruction.
Although the exact amount of money raised had not been totaled Friday night, the bake sale alone netted $1,200, said Mardi Obray, the owner of The Peak.
“Everyone came together (to donate funds as well as items to be sold),” she said.
Many of the donations were heartwarming, such as a young boy who gave his $2 allowance to benefit the children burned in the fire, said Obray.
The incident occurred on South Linda Way while five boys were walking home from Three Mile Creek Elementary School.
They saw plastic gas containers outside of a home, Perry police say, and one of the boys apparently used a lighter to start the fire.
Four of the boys, Tayton Winward, 7; Kayden Godfrey, 8; Tyler Bergman, 10; and another boy whose family wants to remain anonymous, were taken to the University of Utah Hospital’s Burn Center.
Winward, the only one to remain hospitalized, is in the burn center’s intensive care unit. The fifth boy’s injuries were less severe, and he was treated locally.
The fund raiser was initially aimed at just helping Tayton Winward, whose mother, Kali, is a coach at The Peak, but was expanded to include all of the boys.
Obray said she is pleased with the fundraiser’s apparent success.
“It’s amazing,” she said Friday night.
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