Do-Gooders Blog

Students place flowers in front of a makeshift memorial outside of Sprayberry High School during a candlelight vigil for the Carmo family on Feb. 2. Staff/File

Through an outpouring of love and support, members of the Sprayberry High community and people from all over the country have raised more than $50,000 to defer the costs of funeral arrangements for five Cobb County residents who were killed in a tragic multi-car accident in Gainesville, Fla., on Jan. 29.

Funeral services for Jose and Adriana Carmo; their 17-year-old daughter, Leticia Carmo; Jose Carmo’s brother, Edson Carmo; and Edson Carmo’s companion, Rosie Fagundes, will be held Monday at 4 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 56 Whitlock Ave. in Marietta, with a viewing at 1 p.m. Both services will be open to the public.

Bobby Curtis, a pastor at Igreja Internacional da Restauracao church in Marietta where Jose and Adriana Carmo were pastors and the rest of their family were members, said the process of getting the bodies back to Georgia, preparing the bodies for burial, making funeral arrangements and getting everything ready to fly them to Brazil for burial next week has been overwhelming.

“I never knew when I went to bed on Saturday night (Jan. 28) that we would be thrown into these circumstances,” he said. “It’s been a lot of pressure in dealing with the Brazilian consulate, funeral homes, preparation of the bodies and airports. There’s a lot of logistics.”

Funeral arrangements will be handled by SouthCare funeral home in Marietta. Curtis said the bodies will be leaving the funeral home around 1 p.m. Monday, and a processional will be directed through Marietta to First United Methodist.

Five church members will then fly with the bodies from Atlanta to Brazil on Tuesday.

Curtis said Jose and Adriana Carmo’s 15-year-old daughter, Lidiane Carmo, who survived the crash, is still hospitalized at Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville, but is improving every day.

“(Doctors and nurses) are getting her in and out of the bed and getting her to sit up a little bit more,” he said. “She will be there at least another two to four weeks. (Doctors) don’t want her to travel to another hospital. If they can get through some medical issues, she’ll be able to head home rather than another hospital.”

When Lidiane does return home, the Sprayberry High freshman will be welcomed with open arms.

Ever since the accident, Sprayberry High and people nationwide have set up fundraisers and made donations to help show the freshman and Carmo families their support.

Curtis couldn’t say exactly how much has been raised, but said they exceeded their goal of $51,500 and on top of all the donations, they received free air flight for the bodies and five church members, and Florida governor Rick Scott has helped reduce the cost of the funeral arrangements to almost zero.

Sprayberry High students alone have raised about $6,000 by making T-shirts, selling bracelets and hosting bake sales.

Assistant Principal Tim Crunk said that in his three years with the school he has never seen this much support for anything or anyone, but it didn’t surprise him.

“There has been a lot of momentum here,” Crunk said. “It speaks to the Sprayberry students. They are empathetic and took charge. It’s been very heartwarming.”

On Friday afternoon, the students held a walk for the family, sporting the T-shirts they sold over the last two weeks with the slogan “Stay Strong Lidiane” on the back.

Crunk said students followed the parade route they usually take during the homecoming parades to show how many students are behind Lidiane’s fast recovery and safe return back to Marietta.

On top of student and faculty support, the school has also received phone calls from people all over the country who want to make donations outside the Bank of America account that was set up last week, Crunk said.

“People are calling because they want to do more than that,” he said.

In the meantime, the family and school have asked that additional donations be made at Bank of America locations. The account is under the “Carmo Family Funeral Fund,” account number 334036157634.

In another demonstration of community support, a Chick-Fil-A restaurant located across the street from the high school held a fundraiser Monday, and according to their marketing director Tracey Pitts, they broke a 20-year sales record, collecting $4,820.75 for the family.

“We had an amazing turnout,” she said. “It was an amazing event to be a part of, and we’re all part of a really good thing.”

Nearly 3,000 people were served on Monday between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., and at one point during the dinner rush, cars in the drive-thru line were wrapped around the restaurant and onto East Piedmont Road, Pitts said.

“I’ve never seen that before,” she said. “We have the best customers.”

The restaurant often hosts fundraisers like this for the Sprayberry community, but they specifically chose to help out the Carmos because they have so many Sprayberry students who work at their restaurant, and Pitts said they felt like they needed to do something to help out.

“It personally hit close to home to me,” she said.

(Reprinted from the MDJ, February 11, 2012. Written by Lindsay Field.)