WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — The Winter Haven community is coming together to support families affected by a deadly school bus crash that killed two people, including a Winter Haven High School student.
“Winter Haven United: A Night of Hope” brought residents together Monday evening at the Ritz Theatre for a benefit concert focused on healing, compassion and support.
The crash happened Oct. 5, when a multi-vehicle collision involving a school bus killed 16-year-old Adinaluz Prieto Oyola, a 10th-grade Winter Haven High School student and 26-year-old DeShawn Smith, who was driving to work.
The benefit featured musical performances, including selections from the Winter Haven High School choir.
Organizer Vincent Miller, a former Winter Haven High School teacher, said the event was an opportunity to show the affected families that the community stands behind them.
“It’s important that we give back to our community and show the victims of the accident that we care,” Miller said. “To show that we’re united and whatever they need that we’re there for them.”
Miller said the evening featured songs focused on hope and inspiration, including “Stand by Me” and “Man in the Mirror.”
“So tonight it’s all about love,” Miller said. "Everything about hope and inspiration.”
For Winter Haven resident Laura Robinson, news of the crash was difficult to process.
“I was in disbelief. I had not ever seen anything this tragic,” Robinson said.
Robinson said the tragedy inspired her and others to find ways to help the families affected.
“We feel their pain and we want to come together and do whatever we can do to ease that,” she said.
Sherry Bryant, president of the Jewett Alumni Association and an event organizer, said it was important for the families to know they have support.
“It’s traumatic for them all, so they need to know that we are supporting them all,” Bryant said.
One hundred percent of the proceeds and donations from the benefit concert will go to the Polk Education Foundation to support families affected by the crash.
“We’re working with the Winter Haven High School leadership and the district leadership and the counselors to identify needs that the families have,” said Tracy Porter, senior director of the Polk Education Foundation.
Organizers say any money raised beyond the families’ immediate needs will go toward scholarships for students who were on the bus that day.
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