A Facebook group has been created to support the family of Andrea Lynn Mangefrida, the 3-year-old Le Roy girl who drowned Saturday at a residence in Alexander.
Nearly 120 people have joined the group so far to express their sympathies to the Mangefrida family. There's also a PayPal donation link on the site.
M. Gary Guiste appears to have formed the group and writes, "This group is set up for the sole purpose of assisting the Andrea Lynn Mangefrida family in easing the financial burdens of medical costs and the financial burdens associated with the tragic loss of Andrea Mangefrida."
Guiste's note indicates that Andrea was an autistic child.
In an unfortunate accident that is the #1 cause of death in autistics, Andrea was taken from her family too prematurely. As a group, we want nothing more to have her back safe in her family's arms.
As a community of friends and families of police/law enforcement, EMS and fire professionals we stand ready to help the Mangefrida family with anything we can do.
On behalf of the Mangefrida
On behalf of the Mangefrida family thank you for mentioning the Andrea Lynn Mangefrida Memorial Family Fund in The Batavian.
The outpouring of support from the community has been wonderful and humbling.
As you mentioned, the purpose of this open facebook group is to raise money to help the Mangefrida family in offsetting costs associated with the care and end of life costs in this tragedy.
While Andrea was taken far too early it is clear that she will be teaching us for many years to come on the apects of autism that is mostly not spoken about in our everyday life.
Again-thank you for the time and forum to help support not only a grieving family, but also raising awareness and support of the autistic community.