Big Johns Mini Storage in Pocatello, Idaho, is accepting life jacket donations to help a memorial project in honor of four men who drowned at the American Falls Reservoir last year.
Jared and Aaron Hale, Darrel Shappart Jr. and Steve Verbeck all drowned after one man fell in the water and the others tried to help. None of the men were wearing life jackets.
The Hales are building a life-jacket loaner station at the reservoir as a memorial and a reminder to others about the importance wearing life jackets when in or around water.
After hearing about the memorial, Karis DeWalt, an eighth-grader at Grace Lutheran School student, donated 15 life jackets. DeWalt used the life jackets, which were paid for with a $160 grant from the Pocatello Kiwanis Club, to teach students about life-jacket safety as part of a school project earlier this year.
Wells Fargo Bank is also accepting financial donations under the account of Hale Family Life Jacket Foundation.
Sources:
- Idaho State Journal: American Falls Reservoir Memorial Project Receives Donation
