(From left) Juan Sanchez, Greg Wannemacher, and Ken Barker put together donated food for the benefit.
Precious Grundy | The Lima News
LIMA — The City of Lima joined together Friday afternoon to raise money for Chase Lauck, who suddenly passed away at the end of July. Lauck was a 24-year-old Lima native who was deeply loved by his family. The benefit dinner was held at Veterans Memorial Civic Center and Elmview Pub where to-go dinners were given to participants.
Alisha Helmig, a close family friend, weighed in on the benefit.
“Some of the local businesses have been amazing,” said Helmig. “They have donated chicken and other foods. Some bought all their employees dinners. We sold 616 just to local businesses and that was all today.”
The legacy he left reminds us of all of the impacts we have on those around us. Our walk in everyday life is so important and will be remembered.
“A GoFundMe account was set up and there was a lot of response from the Lima Central Catholic,” added Helmig. “Chase’s brother plays football for LCC, his sister is the secretary and his mom runs the concessions stands. People have just been there for them during this awful time.”
Chase worked at Wannemacher Total Logistics and enjoyed sports.
“My son graduated with Chase and they played basketball and football together,” said Helmig. “If they had an away game sometimes his parents could not always go due to having the younger siblings, so Chase would go with us to everything. It was all just so quick and sudden. Originally the benefit was a fundraiser for medical bills. They said he would have needed a liver and heart transplant. We knew we would need to raise some money and he would have been so far away at the Indiana University Hospital. Just before, he ended up passing away. That is how the benefit started and we could not stop it. Now it is to help pay off the funeral and assist mom and dad who did not work for two weeks.”
Family and friends of Chase have decided to create a Chase Lauck foundation. The foundation will continue to help the Lauck family with medical and funeral expenses.
“In the future, we will probably go more into helping other families with sudden illnesses and deaths of young people,” said Helmig.
From this tragedy, Helmig encourages young people to get life insurance.
To donate or reach out to the family please contact Alisha at [email protected].
