By Anna Herod
In just one month, nearly $100,000 has been raised among 914 donations for the family of Steve Vasquez, who was killed in a Jan. 7 accident in Kyle.
Steve’s wife, Stephanie, was in the passenger seat when the accident occurred. At the time, Stephanie was seven months pregnant with the couple’s daughter, Kate. Stephanie suffered several injuries, including internal bleeding and multiple broken bones to her ribs, back and pelvis.
Kate was born unexpectedly Feb. 10, almost a month before her due date. Although she was born prematurely, Kate has proven to be a healthy baby. Stephanie is currently recovering from her C-section as well as the injuries she received during the crash.
“They still have a really long road of recovery,” Ashley Moser, Stephanie’s sister, said. “As you can imagine, somebody that breaks an arm has a while until they recover, and she’s got multiple fractures, and she’s also going to have long term effects as well.”
Pam Helmrich, Stephanie’s younger sister, set up a gofundme campaign that raised just over $91,000 for the Vasquez family. The intention was to help Stephanie with funeral costs, medical expenses and any unforeseen circumstances that may come up while she raises Kate.
Donations to the gofundme page range anywhere from a few dollars to several thousand dollars.
“It has meant so much to her,” Moser said. “Not only are people donating, but they’re also putting on the gofundme support and prayers. A lot of people are just touched by her story, and touched about how she’s so strong and she’s really getting by because of her community and because everybody loves her so much.”
Hundreds of the donations are accompanied by messages of support, prayers and reflections about the life Steve led. Many donors said that he was a great teacher, coach and friend. Moser said she hopes to share the information with Kate when she grows up.
“He loved life and he also loved God, most importantly,” Moser said. “And throughout this whole journey my sister has really seen a lot of people that have found God because of this and she really knows that there is a purpose for all of this to happen.”
Following Steve’s death, friends took to the Feb. 16 Kyle City Council meeting to address signage issues near the area where he died.
A friend of the Vasquez’s pleaded with council to assess signage on Burleson Street. The man believed that, along with an irresponsible driver, poor signage might have been a factor in the crash.
Councilwoman Daphne Tenorio said Steve’s friend brought up a good point when it came to the issue of signage.
Tenorio said she knows what to expect on Burleson Street because she has lived in Kyle all her life, but could see how the turn could catch someone new to the area by surprise.
“It brought a new perspective when he said that ‘he’s new’ and he’s saying ‘I don’t know these things,’” Tenorio said.
Tenorio said although the road is under the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) jurisdiction, she is interested in having city staff work with TxDOT to address the issue.
“We don’t really know anything about Texas roads and stuff because we’re from California and the freeway and signage in California is very prominent,” Moser said. “The streets are really well lit. In Kyle, Texas, they kind of just they don’t have as many signs, and it’s really, like, dull lighting.”
Moser said the signage isn’t a huge concern for the family, but better signage could promote safety and help people to avoid accidents in the future.
“That turn you that you take off onto Burleson is a very, very tight turn and if the city was to go ahead and put more signage up and fix that area it would be great because it could potentially stop from happening in the future,” Moser said.
Moser said that although Stephanie is not ready to speak about the tragic loss of her husband yet, she wants the world to know she believes God has a plan in it all.
“(Stephanie) said ‘make sure that people know that God is a part of this, and God is using this whole thing to reach out to people,’” Moser said.
