Accident victim’s family sets up fundraiser
Midland County’s Toni Esch Benchley, 34, remembered as ‘amazing’ mother
Friends of a Midland County woman who died after a traffic crash have set up a fundraiser to help her family.
Toni Esch Benchley, 34, is being remembered as a loving mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend following the crash at West Saginaw Road and Frank Street in Geneva Township at roughly 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
While funeral arrangements are pending, Benchley’s friend Jasmine Barnes organized a Gofundme to help her family with the many costs associated with her sudden passing and to help her husband, Benjamin Benchley; and their three children, Gunner, Skyler and Conner.
“It will take some time for her family to both heal and to find their footing in her absence,” Barnes said on the Gofundme site, gofundme.com/f/ toni-esch-benchley “Anything you would like to contribute will help alleviate any additional stress of this shocking loss for her family and help build some future security for the children.”
Saying she and Toni Benchley’s loved ones’ hearts are broken, Barnes called her friend “one of a kind” and said it’s an incredible loss not only for both the Esch and Benchley families, but for all who knew her.
“She was an effortless breath of fresh air, someone who lit up the room the moment she walked in and also a person who always had her family’s backs,” Barnes wrote on the fundraiser site. “One of the funniest, amazing, most straightforward people, it was impossible not to smile or just simply feel better whenever she was in your company.”
Family was Toni Benchley’s life, her friend said, calling her an amazing mother with unwavering love for her children and family.
“The void created by Toni’s passing is immeasurable and we will all miss her dearly, but we can each take comfort that we