WILLIAMSPORT, Ohio — Friends, neighbors and local businesses in Pickaway County are rallying around Taylor and Dylan McGee, parents of three young daughters who were hurt in a severe crash in October, with a community benefit set for Sunday, Nov. 15, in Williamsport, according to the Scioto Post and J News Network.
The benefit starts at noon at The Dawg Ugly, 121 Water St. in Williamsport, according to the family’s fundraiser flyer, as reported by J News Network. The afternoon will include a Chinese auction and 50/50 raffles, with every dollar raised going toward the couple’s medical bills and living expenses.
Taylor and Dylan McGee are the parents of Kora, Nova and Luna. The couple was involved in a severe car accident on a Thursday afternoon in October, according to the family’s GoFundMe page, organized by Jaelyn Evans, and community fundraiser postings say the crash happened on Route 665, J News Network reported.
The family’s fundraiser page says both parents are expected to make a full recovery but face a long road before they can return to normal life, and that donations go toward medical bills and living expenses so the couple can focus on healing and caring for their girls, according to J News Network.
The response has come fast. Organizers say the fundraising effort passed 75 percent of its initial goal within three days, the Scioto Post reported, and supporters are also arranging meal trains for the family for when Taylor and Dylan return home.
Businesses and donors have stocked the benefit with major prizes. The silent auction lineup is headlined by a Columbus Blue Jackets package — two lower-bowl seats, Section 110, Row D, Seats 1 and 2, for the Blue Jackets’ game against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, Dec. 17, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus — according to the organizers’ flyers, as reported by the Scioto Post and J News Network.
A second big-ticket item is an all-inclusive six-day, five-night trip for two to the Lifestyle Tropical Beach Resort and Spa in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, donated by Tabby’s Tropical Travels, the Scioto Post reported. Organizers have also announced a $750 Visa gift card raffle and a specialty liquor basket raffle.
Food is part of the fundraiser, too. A smoked meat plate sale will feature 80 pounds of pork and 80 pounds of chicken legs donated by Train Station and prepared as smoked meat dinners, according to the Scioto Post.
It is the kind of effort small communities in this part of Ohio are known for: a local business opening its doors, other businesses donating prizes and food, and hundreds of neighbors turning a difficult month for one family into a shared project. Organizers described the donations coming in as overwhelming in their postings, as reported by the Scioto Post.
Chinese auctions, in which participants buy tickets and drop them into containers for the specific prizes they hope to win, are a staple of Ohio church, school and family benefits because they let donors at every budget take part, while the raffles and the plate sale give the Nov. 15 event several different ways for neighbors to contribute in a single afternoon.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on: the date, time and place of the Nov. 15 benefit, the auction and raffle lineup, and the family’s expected full recovery are confirmed in the organizers’ flyers and the family’s fundraiser page, as reported by the Scioto Post and J News Network. The family’s day-to-day recovery progress has not been publicly detailed, and NewsForce247 is respecting the family’s privacy on medical specifics beyond what the family itself has shared.
Related coverage from NewsForce247: read about another Ohio community honoring its own in Washington County’s induction of eight veterans into its Hall of Fame in Marietta, and about community support in Southeast Ohio in the Straker Foundation’s $200,000 in awards to 18 Muskingum County groups.
How to help: donations can be made through the family’s GoFundMe page or by Venmo to @TaylorandDylanMcGee, and Cash App donations go to $BobbieJBarnes, according to J News Network. Organizer Bobbie Barnes is the contact for raffle tickets, auction bids and other ways to get involved, the Scioto Post reported.
What happens next: the benefit runs Sunday, Nov. 15, starting at noon at The Dawg Ugly in Williamsport. Raffle tickets for the gift card, the liquor basket and the Chinese auction, and bids on the Blue Jackets package and the Dominican Republic trip, are available through the fundraiser team now, ahead of the event.
Photo: Aesopposea, CC BY-SA 3.0