Edmonton’s Liberian community wants to support families impacted by fatal crash

Edmonton’s Liberian community is seeking ways to help the families of three mothers killed in a highway collision.

But the president of the Liberian Friendship Society says it’s been a challenge because the women themselves would have been the ones to take care of such efforts.

Thomas Bumbeh says they’re calling on everyone in the community to come up with ways to support the families.

READ MORE: Stolen truck crashes into minivan on Highway 16, leaving 3 women dead 

Eva Tumbay, Jeannette Wright, and Glorious David died Friday on Highway 16 just east of the Saskatchewan boundary when police say the minivan they were in collided with a stolen truck.

READ MORE: Edmonton’s Liberian community mourns loss of 3 women killed in Saskatchewan crash

Bumbeh says Wright was one of the first Liberians to arrive in Edmonton and many others followed thanks to her.

David was the wife of Reverend Glory Blamo, founder of Solid Rock International Ministries of Edmonton, where some of the crash victims attended church.

READ MORE: ‘It’s a catastrophe’: Edmonton’s Liberian community mourns loss of 3 women killed in crash 

Bumbeh called her the “mother” of the church, responsible for supporting members of the community.

He says the friendship society is asking every member of the city’s Liberian community to contribute $200 towards helping the victims’ families cover funeral expenses.

Francis Hinnah, the president of the Federation of Liberian Associations in Canada, based out of London, Ont., has launched a GoFundMe account to raise money for the families of the women who died and for the woman in hospital.