$25K raised for families of students injured in awning collapse at North Iredell High

Students at South Iredell High have raised nearly $26,000 in two days for families of the school’s band members who were injured in Saturday’s awning collapse at North Iredell High School.

The collapse happened after a rental truck hit a support beam of a roof overhang outside the main entrance of the school. Concrete fell onto South Iredell High students who were heading inside for a regional band competition. North Iredell High is 52 miles north of Charlotte.

Eighteen band members were hospitalized, including a girl who had her leg amputated and numerous others who had broken feet, legs and pelvises and severe head injuries, Julia Moore, a South Iredell High drum major, said on a Go Fund Me account she created.

By Tuesday morning, 471 people had contributed a total of $25,895 on the site.

The effort aims to raise $50,000, in part to cover expenses for families of the hospitalized students, including food, gas, hotel rooms and salaries lost for taking unpaid personal days off from work, Moore said.

Money also will go to a prosthetic for the girl who lost her leg and changes that have to be made to her home to help her transition, Moore said.

The rest of the money will be put into a fund for a new band trailer dedicated to the injured, Moore said.

“I want to reverse time to stop it,” Moore wrote on the Go Fund Me site. “I can’t snap into the reality of what happened; that some of the greatest people in my life are hurt, and I can’t change it. But, even though we may have been battered up, we are all alive, and I’m thankful for that.

“This is my Viking band and I love them so much...Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers tonight, we sure do need it.”

Four students remain hospitalized at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte and one at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, according to Observer news partner WBTV.

A State Highway Patrol trooper is scheduled to meet with the Iredell County district attorney to determine if charges will be filed against the driver of the Ryder rental truck, the station reported.

This story was originally published October 6, 2015 at 7:56 AM with the headline "$25K raised for families of students injured in awning collapse at North Iredell High."