Family appreciates support after daughter’s death

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This article was published 18/11/2011 (5283 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The father of Dayanny Nunez Bonilla — a little girl who was killed when she was hit by a truck — says his family is touched by the support shown by Westman residents, a family friend reports.

Dayanny’s dad, Santos Nunez, and her family have travelled from Brandon to their home country of Honduras where the girl is to be buried. It’s a trip funded by Westman Dreams for Kids and Santos expressed his gratitude for that and other gestures of support.

“You could just sense relief in his voice,” said Elaine Kettner, a family friend who spoke to Santos by phone. “He just said God is so good just working all of these things out. He said the people have just been so supportive and he was very, very appreciative.”

Santos Nunez came to Canada three years ago to work at Maple Leaf Foods. His wife Ana, Dayanny and his eight-year-old son Selvin joined him here just 10 months ago.

Five-year-old Dayanny was killed on Oct. 27 when a truck backed up and hit her outside of her family’s home in Argyle Courts. It appears it was an accident and at this point no charges have been laid against the driver, although police continue to investigate.

Santos, Ana and Selvin have flown to Honduras but they await the arrival of Dayanny’s body which is still in Canada. Kettner said the transportation of the body requires Canadian and Honduran officials to exchange, complete or approve the proper paperwork.

“We just don’t know when that’s going to take place,” Kettner said.

Meanwhile support for the grieving family continues to arrive in the form of donations. The funds are intended to help the family in any way they can.

Westman Dreams for Kids stepped up to cover the cost of plane tickets which allowed Dayanny’s family to travel to Honduras for the burial.

“We wanted to get involved,” the organization’s board president Kerry Campbell said. “It was just a real tragedy.”

At Meadows School, where Dayanny attended kindergarten, students and staff have rallied to help the family.

The school held a memorial service last week in which her classmates each placed a rose in a vase to mark her memory. Pictures of the girl were placed on a table at the school where messages of support were written in a scrapbook that was presented to her family.

In addition, the school has set up an account at the Westoba Credit Union to receive donations. Students and their families, school staff and members of the public and businesses have chipped in and the school has deposited at least $5,000, although a total for the account isn’t available at this time.

The school has also had two framed pictures of Dayanny made — one which will hang in the school and another to go to her family.

Principal Nancy Dane said the effort seems to have helped staff and students cope with Dayanny’s death. Her young classmates still ask questions but they’ve returned to their regular school routine.

At Vincent Massey high school, English as an Additional Language students, some of them who live at Argyle Courts, held a pizza sale which raised $775 and the school’s student council made a donation to round off the contribution to $1,000.

“My students wanted to help in some way,” EAL teacher Agnieszka Desjardins said. “They’re all immigrants themselves so they understand how difficult it must have been.”

Members of local churches have also made donations to the memorial fund.

» ihitchen@brandonsun.com