FUNDRAISERS
Friends, neighbors pitch in to help troubled families
Benefit events raise money for Afghan war widow, couple left homeless by landslide
Hundreds of Western New Yorkers donated time, money and goods to benefits Saturday.
One benefit was held for Chris and Jody Morphy, whose Amherst home collapsed into Tonawanda Creek during an April landslide; another was in honor of Army Sgt. 1st Class Raymond J. Munden, whose wife, the former Kelly Koshofer of Cheektowaga, is coping with her husband’s death alongside her two daughters.
Chris and Jody Morphy have been living in a rented house for two months, trying to accumulate between $20,000 and $30,000 to cover the cost of demolishing their former home. They had considered scheduling the demolition for Saturday morning, but without the funds, the Morphys did not want to go through with it.
“That would have been a disaster,” said Jody Morphy, who expects the house to be demolished by week’s end. “We’re just trying to put our lives back together, and it’s the people here — friends and strangers alike — who are holding us together.”
Jody Morphy walked no more than five steps in any direction at the Ellicott Creek Fire Hall in Amherst before receiving a quick embrace, a kiss on the cheek or a joke from friends, all hoping to keep her spirits high.
More than 200 gift baskets lined tables in the basement, while donated guitars, jewelry and a jersey and football signed by Buffalo Bills Quarterback Trent Edwards filled the high-end silent auction tables upstairs.
Morphy’s eyes watered as she tried to express her gratitude and thanks to everyone in the community for their help.
“This has been the silver lining,” she said. “Total strangers have opened up their hearts and given money they can’t even afford themselves. It sounds so trite to say thank you, but I am just so appreciative.
““This tragedy has changed our lives forever, and brought me to realize how many great people we have in this community,” she said. “It makes me want to cry, and I don’t want to cry at my party, but I will.”
Meanwhile, in Bowmansville, Kelly Munden celebrated the life of her husband, Raymond J. Munden, a 35-year-old Texas native who was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan when he was killed in a rocket attack in mid-February.
Saturday morning, Munden’s youngest daughter, 2-year-old daughter Kailey, woke up early. When Koshofer came to her bedside, Kailey asked, “Is Daddy going to wake up and come to his party?”
“That was really a punch to the heart,” said Munden, holding on to her husband’s wedding ring as she rubbed his warped, silver dog tags. “We’re hanging in there. Sometimes we live hour to hour, others day to day. He was a true hero, and we are honoring him. It means a lot, and it’s really overwhelming, but I am so appreciative to get this big of a response.”
Munden’s sister, Nikki Yellico, who organized the spaghetti dinner, said the benefit was more about giving her brother-in-law the respect he deserves than raising money. For all she cared, she said, if there was no money raised, and the event broke even, that’s what Raymond Munden would have wanted.
“He would love this,” she said. “If he were here, I am sure he would say, ‘Let’s party!’ This event is in his honor. It’s obviously very difficult for Kelly, and hard to realize he is not coming back. This is a way I can help.”
Another spaghetti dinner benefit was held earlier in the week at the Lockport Masonic Lodge, the first in a series of benefits for restaurateur Chet Secrist, who is battling leukemia.
His Chet’s Dog House, closed during his hospitalization, will reopen for the Dog Day of Summer benefit on July 25.
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