This is a bummer of a story, but it happened locally down here in South Jersey. Perhaps you saw it on national news. It touched me personally.

This past Saturday, August 20, four members of the Mainland H.S. football team died in a car crash on the Garden State Pkwy near Exit 38, The Atlantic City Expressway. They were on their way to a team breakfast after practice. Four other boys were traveling in the same vehicle and escaped with minor injuries. The accident happened at 11:45 am. It is suspected that the driver lost control of his vehicle when he tried to stop for traffic that was backed up from an exit.

Mainland High School is located in Linwood, N.J. and serves the communities of Somers Point, Linwood and Northfield. On Sunday evening, a vigil was held at the school football field. It was attended by 3,000 people. Members of rival football teams attended the vigil.

My daughter taught two of the boys at Northfield Community School and she attended the vigil. The boys were in her eighth grade English class. The mother of one of the students is also a teacher at the same school. Needless to say this tragedy has devastated the community.