Helper raises funds for miners' families

HELPER — Hope was still very much alive in Helper as hundreds of residents gathered for a night of prayer and fund-raising for the families of 15 miners trapped, killed or injured in the Crandall Canyon Mine.

Charles Jones said Friday that his hometown "has been impacted in more ways than you can imagine. We wanted to see what we could do to help the families of these miners," he said. "They could easily be alive in there, and every day the chance is slimmer, but we still need to do all we can."

Sports equipment, quilts, artwork, vacation packages, hardware, furniture and baskets of beauty supplies sold for hundreds more than face value as the community opened its wallets to show support.

Rebecca Whipple, Price, spent $950 of her savings on three separate quilts and was proud to do so "because it was going to a good cause." She met Manuel Sanchez, one of the trapped miners, only weeks before the mine collapsed and because of that, felt a connection to the cause.

"It makes my heart feel good that the money is going to the families," she said.

Helper City Councilman John Jones organized the benefit, held at the Main Street Park, in less than a week's time. He said calls from as far north as Canada have been coming in offering donations and supplies for the auction and raffle, which brought in an estimated $150,000-plus to be split among the families of the miners.

"They're all just like we are and come Friday, they're going to need that paycheck," Jones said. "It's a phenomenal thing to see the cities pull together like this. It shows the love we have for our neighbors."

Rep. Brad King, R-Price, participated in the lighting of candles across the stage, each candle representing a man injured, trapped or killed by the mine.

"The families are not ready to give up and obviously neither is the community," he said. "This is where the community is at its best."

The turnout was more than organizers had expected, but there was plenty of locally-produced sausages and hamburgers and melons — all of which was donated — to go around. All of the proceeds from the night are headed straight for the Crandall Canyon Fund, an account set up at the local Wells Fargo Bank.

Ralph Taylor, a local Budweiser distributor, bid $4,000 for a painting of six figures standing at the mouth of a mine tunnel. He said, "those guys trapped in that mountain have been supporters of me for all these years, whether they drink or not, and I'm just trying to help their families out."

He plans to hang the painting in his home.