‘4 the 4’ fundraiser supports families of Gretna crash victims

 Hundreds of people from the Gretna community gathered at Peterson Park on Saturday to remember the 4 teens who were killed in a single car crash on June 17th. 

The benefit, called 4 the 4, is donating all the proceeds to the families of the 5 teens involved in the crash. 

Wil Stephany, an organizer of the benefit, says he wanted to bring the community together after the crash.

“It was just such a life changing thing for so many families in the Gretna area, it affected so many people and we just really wanted to get the community together and thank the first responders . . . help those families out so they have options on how they can deal with this,” Stephany says.

Stephany says the entire community stepped up to pitch in. The silent auction alone included over 200 items donated from around the state. 

“The cool thing is, we had people from all over the country…people send us stuff from Des Moines because they had a similar experience in high school….it touched so many people everywhere, we got messages and calls from so many people.”

Caryln Berganti and Cameron Bush, students and dancers at Gretna high school, were friends with all the victims. Two of them, Alex and Abby, were on the Gretna dance team with them.

“Even to This point sometimes it just doesn’t feel real, that like I’m going to go to school at the beg of the year and they’re going to be in my classes. . . so its just confusing, still,” Bush says.

“I’m just so used to dancing with them because I’ve danced with them since I was a little kid, so going to dance practice everyday is so much different and harder,” Berganti says. 

Although they are still dealing with the tragedy, the girls say it is incredible to see the support from the community, and they are hapy to be involved. 

“It’s easier to be with other people than it is to be alone,” Berganti says. 

“It’s amazing just to see the people they knew and knew them, its a family, our community is an entire family,” Bush says.

For information on how to help or where to donate, you can visit the 4 the 4 – #GretnaStrong Facebook page.