Town helps two

Two tragedies have left the town of Crane taking care of its own.

On Dec. 6, the space heater in Alma and Myra Lopez’s house was standing too close to the bed, causing the bed to ignite. The sisters got out of the house, but they lost everything they owned and both suffered injuries and were hospitalized. Myra was in the University Medical Center in Lubbock for two days, while Alma is still there, in critical but stable condition due to smoke inhalation.

The two women hold jobs as cooks at My Friend’s Grill, a local restaurant. Alma also works as a dishwasher at Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant. Neither of them have health insurance.

The community has rallied around them, raising money to help them rebuild and cope with their looming medical bills. Jose Garcia, owner of Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant, opened his restaurant last Saturday with all proceeds from the day’s business being donated to the sisters. Donation jars and baskets have been set up in restaurants and businesses across the town. As of Wednesday, $3,014 had been raised to help the sisters begin rebuilding their lives, Garcia said.

"The girls are friendly, hard working and they have no family here and they lost everything, so we wanted to help them and be there for them," Garcia said.

The Lopez sisters aren’t the only ones being helped.

Petey Johnson, 13, was building a smoke bomb on Thanksgiving when he poured gasoline on it and the gasoline can exploded in his hands.

Johnson suffered second and third degree burns to 68 percent of his body. Johnson is now at the Shriners Hospital in Galveston, one of the best burn treatment centers in the nation. He underwent his fourth skin graft and may be facing more as he recovers. Doctors have said Petey may be in the hospital recovering for another three months. Then he will begin to undergo rehabilitation and reconstructive surgery.

Petey is an eighth-grader at Crane Middle School who plays French horn in the school band and is nicknamed "Sweetie Petey." His mother died of cancer when he was 5, and his aunt and uncle, Debbie and Dennis Treadaway, have been "Mom" and "Dad" since he was a child.

Students at Crane Elementary, where Debbie Treadaway works as a fifth-grade math teacher, held drawings and a giant garage sale in the school gym, with proceeds going to help Petey. Crane Middle School sold students $3 tickets allowing them to wear pajamas to school. They also held bake sales and collected more than $700 passing the hat during the Christmas band concert. Crane High School pitched in by selling $3 tickets for teachers to wear jeans and students to wear hats to school. Students could pay extra to wear their hats sideways.

Crane Elementary principal Joy Armstrong said the district raised nearly $9,000 for Johnson. Armstrong said she wasn’t surprised by the community’s generosity. She experienced a similar outpouring of charity and support when she lost her own home to a fire last year.

"It’s just a very loving community that takes care of its people," she said.

Johnson’s church, Tabernacle Baptist, also came together to help him, raising nearly $2,000 last Sunday in a Christmas offering.

"We were just wanting to help," the Rev. Lyndel Lee said.

Johnson’s guardian, Dennis Treadaway, was overcome with emotion when he talked about the support he and his family have received from the Crane community.

"You just don’t expect that. We’re very independent people, and we’re not accustomed to taking favors. It’s new to us, but the way everyone has been reaching out to help us, you just don’t expect that to happen," Treadaway said.

Debbie Treadaway said the whole family cried when they found out about the donation.

"I just couldn’t believe it. They told me, and I cried. I told my husband, and we both cried. We both told Petey, and he was shocked, just overwhelmed by it all," she said.