When five Park City High School graduates died last year in a span of seven months, five grieving mothers not only leaned on each other for support, but also decided to honor their children's memories with service.
The five women stared a foundation called the PC 5 Memorial Fund to raise money to help a community in Riobamba, Ecuador, including building a school.
The five women had their first meeting in February, when they decided to start fundraising to build the school with the humanitarian group ASCEND. The women gathered Friday night for the ASCEND fundraiser at the Grand America Hotel.
Kelly Yeates, whose son, Chris, fell while hiking in Austria in June last year, said the mothers wanted Park City to have a sister school.
"Most of our kids had an international tie in some way," Yeates said. "Matt (Knopp) was serving a mission (for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in Brazil; Chris was in Austria. All of them had dreams of helping other people, but also they all had dreams of living or being a part of other communities in different countries."
Matt Knoop was hit by a car and killed while walking home from a church service event on his mission in Brazil in April of last year. His mother, Kaye Knoop, said Matt fell in love with the people of Brazil and for her the project is an extension of what he started.
In May, the Park City 5 organized a 5k run with the help of the high school's National Honor Society.
"We were very impressed with the community and everyone that supported us," Kaye Knoop said. "We were thinking 300, and we had over 1,000 people. It was the biggest race/walk that had ever been to Park City."
The honor society also sold plastic bracelets to students with the word "remember" impressed on them.
In June, the women also organized a golf tournament. Ellen Knell, whose daughter, Erica, died after her car rolled on I-80 in September 2008, said she was astonished to see the support from the community.
"I think our whole community was in mourning," Knell said. "I think the high school and the community were happy to have an opportunity to do something because they didn't know what to do."
The community fundraising efforts garnered enough money to pay for the construction of the new school building in Ecuador.
When the women were first planning the trip to Ecuador, they were worried they wouldn't be able to get the minimum of 13 volunteers, but 50 people ended up going on the trip in July.
Volunteers renovated an existing school building and stocked it with supplies, built a school cafeteria, built two community ovens and taught cooking classes. They also built two playgrounds, ran medical clinics and taught computer, English, hygiene, family-planning, nutrition and first-aid classes.
Yeates said the villagers knew why the volunteers were there, and she felt a special connection with them.
"So many of these families have experienced the loss of a child," she said. "I think it resonated with a lot of them because they really have no emergency care. They suffer from a lot a parasitical diseases, so the loss of a child is not unfamiliar to them."
Alice Pennels, whose son, Mike, died inexplicably in his sleep in February 2008, said, "My son was always a big champion of the down-and-out, so this was a cool project to help people who have absolutely nothing."
The project not only provided a way for these families to remember their children, but also provided them with a way to work through their grief.
Knoop said service helped get her mind on something besides her loss. "Last year was a very hard year for all of us," she said. "All of us were in different mourning phases, and nothing was really expected of us. But we just opened up and talked to each other. I just feel so proud of our kids because this is because of them, and I look around and what an honor for our children."
"It helped me feel like my child wouldn't be forgotten," Knell said. "And I think what all of us don't want to ever have happen is to have our kids be forgotten."
The fifth deceased student, Connie Blount, was a freshman at the University of Kentucky when she was hit by a car and killed while crossing a street in April of last year. Her mother did not attend the ASCEND event, but her father, Jack Blount, commented on the strength that the fundraising had been to his family.
"While it's tragic that there were five of these children in the same year, there was a bonding and strength as the community pulled together," he said.
Blount said he had mixed reactions at first.
"On the one hand, you feel like publicity really isn't the right thing. On the other hand, Connie was an incredibly outgoing person with a huge heart, who spent what short life she had trying to help other people," he said. "The opportunity to come together and find a unique way to help other people, I know, is something that is making Connie smile up in heaven."
Marnie Knoop, Matt's sister, said her mother changed when she began the project.
"She got a light back in her again, in being surrounded by these great women and having them always care about her so she could always talk to somebody," she said. "As her daughter, I can't always say the right thing, but talking to other mothers has definitely helped her."
The Park City 5 Foundation is planning to open the foundation to include other Park City families who have lost their children. Pennels said since the five Park City High graduates died, two more have also passed away.
David Cook was working in Alaska when he came down with a mild case of pneumonia and died in his sleep. The second alumni, Megan Brown, had been struggling with ovarian cancer for three years when she died last month at age 24.
"We are going to contact all of the families who have had a child die in the past five years and bring them in to grow the support system," Pennels said.
The foundation has also set up a scholarship program for Park City students to go on subsequent humanitarian trips. The families of each of the victims provided the first $1,000 for five student volunteers to go on the trip in July, but foundation funds will now take over the scholarship.
For more information on the foundation, visit www.parkcity5.com.
e-mail: frobinson@desnews.com