A community is in mourning as a couple of families try to cope with the unimaginable devastation of losing two girls from a boating incident over the weekend.
It was late Saturday afternoon in Queens County when the lives of Lucy Cable-Munroe and Adalind Gaul were lost after their boat flipped in Lake Rossignol.
They were on a camping trip with a 45-year-old man and one other child.
Now, two GoFundMe’s have been organized to try to help the girls’ families grapple with the loss.
According to the fundraiser for Lucy (Juice), she was a “sweet, kind, polite, little ‘old soul'” who had a sparkle that lit up every room she entered.
Funds raised will go toward funeral expenses and to take “one less worry off their plate during this difficult time that no family should have to go through.”
The fundraiser for Adalind describes her as “a little spitfire—full of energy, laughter and love.”
Money raised in that GoFundMe will go toward the family “as they take the difficult steps forward in the coming weeks and months.”
Both have raised tens of thousands of dollars as of Tuesday evening.
In addition to that, dozens of meals will be donated by volunteers through the Meal Train website.
What happened
The man and the three children were on a camping trip, canoeing on Lake Rossignol when the weather took a turn for the worse and the boat started to take on water before it overturned.
All four were wearing life jackets. However, two of the children had difficulty breathing as they made their way to shore.
“The man performed CPR on the two children while the third child contacted dispatch to assist rescuers with locating them,” says RCMP in an email to our newsroom.
They add that Lake Rossignol is large with many islands, and due to this summer’s drought, water levels are low, exposing many rocks.
“These conditions, along with the darkness that was falling, made it challenging for rescuers. The child on the phone was able to communicate with dispatch while listening for the search and rescue helicopter which assisted in locating the group,” explains RCMP.
Once crews found them, they were taken to hospital in a search and rescue helicopter, but the two girls died from their injuries.
