Park City parents turn tragedy into service

When five Park City High School graduates died last year in a span of seven months, five grieving mothers not only leaned on each other for support, but also decided to honor their children's memories with service.

The five women stared a foundation called the PC 5 Memorial Fund to raise money to help a community in Riobamba, Ecuador, including building a school.

The five women had their first meeting in February, when they decided to start fundraising to build the school with the humanitarian group ASCEND. The women gathered Friday night for the ASCEND fundraiser at the Grand America Hotel.

Kelly Yeates, whose son, Chris, fell while hiking in Austria in June last year, said the mothers wanted Park City to have a sister school.

"Most of our kids had an international tie in some way," Yeates said. "Matt (Knopp) was serving a mission (for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in Brazil; Chris was in Austria. All of them had dreams of helping other people, but also they all had dreams of living or being a part of other communities in different countries."

Matt Knoop was hit by a car and killed while walking home from a church service event on his mission in Brazil in April of last year. His mother, Kaye Knoop, said Matt fell in love with the people of Brazil and for her the project is an extension of what he started.

In May, the Park City 5 organized a 5k run with the help of the high school's National Honor Society.

"We were very impressed with the community and everyone that supported us," Kaye Knoop said. "We were thinking 300, and we had over 1,000 people. It was the biggest race/walk that had ever been to Park City."

The honor society also sold plastic bracelets to students with the word "remember" impressed on them.

In June, the women also organized a golf tournament. Ellen Knell, whose daughter, Erica, died after her car rolled on I-80 in September 2008, said she was astonished to see the support from the community.

"I think our whole community was in mourning," Knell said. "I think the high school and the community were happy to have an opportunity to do something because they didn't know what to do."

The community fundraising efforts garnered enough money to pay for the construction of the new school building in Ecuador.

When the women were first planning the trip to Ecuador, they were worried they wouldn't be able to get the minimum of 13 volunteers, but 50 people ended up going on the trip in July.