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Community Comes Together to Help Family of Sherrard Fire Victims

A community came together to help the Harker Family who lost their daughters Holli and Jessica in a fire near Sherrard, IL. According to the Mercer County Coron...

A community came together to help the Harker Family who lost their daughters Holli and Jessica in a fire near Sherrard, IL. According to the Mercer County Coroner’s Office they both died from smoke inhalation on March 27, 2013 when the mobile home they were sleeping in caught fire.

Spellious Tae Kwon Do put the fundraiser together. The girls trained there. Hundreds of people from all over the Quad Cities came together at the fundraiser to show their support.

"It's been very tough and you know I have times where I have to go by myself and just have a good cry, because you know it's just terrible,” says Lisa Ohlsen who’s sons went to school with Holli and Jessica.

The fundraiser was held on Sunday, April 7, 2013 to help the Harker family with funeral expenses.

"We know how expensive it is to have a funeral and have to do it times two, it’s putting a huge financial strain on the family,” says Ohlsen.

"Also it helps with the grieving for us to help them this way, helping us get over our lost,” says Master Dwayne Spellious who was the girls Tae Kwon Do instructor.

There was a silent auction, bake sale, spaghetti dinner and a memory book, a way the Harker family could remember their girls.

"That's going to be really neat for the future, for her to look back on her daughters,” says Spellious.

After asking for the community’s help, they lent a hand says Ohlsen, "I knew we were going to get a lot of donations. I didn't know that it was going to be this overwhelming..."

It’s a tragedy that has impacted many and brought a community together.

"To help out a family that they didn't know and it does pull at your heart strings,” says Ohlsen.

If you would like to donate, donations can be sent to:

 Harker Family Fund,

c/o 1st community bank,

PO Box 455,

Sherrard, IL 61281

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