Mother of Kelowna crane collapse victim on mission to establish memorial with country star’s help
Global News
Flowers, notes and photos accumulated, and Pritchett said she and others found some solace remembering their loved ones there. Unfortunately, it was short lived.
Danielle Pritchett’s son was one of five men killed in downtown Kelowna nearly three years ago when a crane being dismantled collapsed to the ground in one of the most significant workplace accidents the city has ever seen.
Her son Cailen Vilness, as well as Jared Zook, Brad Zawislak, Patrick Stemmer, and Eric Stemmer’s deaths on July 12 2021, stunned the community. In the days that followed a makeshift memorial was erected at the construction site.
Flowers, notes and photos accumulated, and Pritchett said she and others found some solace remembering their loved ones there. Unfortunately, it was short lived.
“We were asked to take it down, and it was devastating for us and the families,” she said.
“As it is right now, we have nowhere as families to go to mourn or just reflect…. We feel like it was important to have a place to remember our men who didn’t come home that day. It’s a tragedy. It’s important to have a place remember. ”
They will, eventually, have that place. The city donated a piece of land that will eventually be home to a memorial to the men who were killed that day and now Pritchett is looking to the community to help get things going.
More money, however, needs to be collected to complete the work and Pritchett is leading the charge with a fundraising effort that could, for the first time, bring some lightness to some of her darkest days.
“We’ve been fundraising for some time, but we don’t have enough to break ground at the moment,” she said.
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