Elizabeth Twp. rallies to help 10-year-old hit by car
By CHRISTINE HAINES
chaines@yourmvi.com
Elizabeth Township may cover more than 23 square miles, but when someone is in need, it suddenly becomes a small town.
Around 5:30 p.m. Friday, 10-year-old Dominic Grebur was riding his bicycle with friends when he was involved in a collision with a car at the intersection of Greenock-Buena Vista Road and Duncan Station Road.
The crash left the youngster severely injured, and he was flown by medical helicopter to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh.
“He broke his femur, his knee cap, his collarbone, he had lacerations to the face and lost some teeth and cracked his chin,” said close family friend Jace Bonivich, who spoke on behalf of Dominic’s parents, Alex and Melissa Grebur.
Dominic has been active with Elizabeth Forward Youth Athletics since he was 4 years old, starting with T-ball. EFYA vice president Chris Thoma said Dominic’s team, known as the Tribe, is close knit.
“When he’s on the ballfield, he’s loved by his teammates. He puts his team first. They’re thick as molasses. They hang out together on and off the field,” Thoma said. “It’s a close community. When someone needs something, everyone steps up.”
The community has stepped up in a major way in the past few days. A GoFundMe account set up to help cover the family’s medical expenses took off over the weekend, raising more than $10,000 by Monday afternoon. The goal had been $7,000.
The athletic association also launched a fundraiser for Saturday’s opening day. Thoma said information about the fundraiser wasn’t released until late Sunday, but by Monday afternoon a number of businesses and individuals had already made contact about donating raffle baskets.
Thoma said the baskets are just part of the activities to help the Grebur family that will take place at Mt. Vernon Park during opening day.
“At each game we’ll be doing a 50-50 drawing,” he said. “We have 11 games. The first one starts at 9 a.m. and the last one starts at 5:30 p.m., so it’s a full day.”
To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Tuesday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.
