Fundraiser to benefit boy injured in car accident

Norwich — A pasta dinner fundraiser will be held Dec. 7 at the Preston VFW to benefit the family of an 8-year-old Norwich boy who was badly injured Oct. 13, when he ran into a moving car on North Main Street.

The dinner will raise money for Evan White’s family to pay for medical costs not covered by insurance and household expenses while his mother, Jennell White, is on unpaid medical leave to care for Evan.

The dinner will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Preston VFW, 28 Spicer Road, Preston. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children under age 6 and will be available at the door. The event will include raffles, face painting and music. Take out dinners also will be available.

According to family members, Evan was with his father, who parked across the street from the boy’s home, and asked Evan to stay in the car while he went to pick up his medicine from Evan’s mother. The boy became excited to see his mother and ran across the road without looking. When he struck the left front corner of the moving car, his left leg got caught inside the wheel well, fracturing the tibia and fibula bones.

The boy was transported to The William W. Backus Hospital, where he was treated initially before being transported to Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence. Evan also had suffered a skull fracture and a concussion.

Evan underwent surgery to repair his leg with pins inserted into the bones. The pins have been removed and Evan was placed in a hard cast and given a walker with wheels and crutches.

Since the accident, Jennell White’s landlord and auto finance company have agreed to allow her to delay payments. Medical insurance has not covered all the medical costs of the surgery and recovery.

White has started a crowdfunding page on gofundme. com and has raised $460 of her $5,000 goal thus far.

Many of the first responders who tended to Evan at the accident scene and others in the Norwich area have been selling tickets to the Dec. 7 fundraiser and plan to attend, including members of the Norwich Police Department, where his grandfather, Jerry Roberts is a dispatcher. The Norwich Fire Department, American Ambulance and the Yantic volunteer fire department have been helping to sell tickets for the dinner.