Doing the right thing for a little girl hurt by a kiter

[davidllyon]

First of all, to the guy who was flying the kite that hurt Luz: do the right thing and contact the family directly. I'll literally stand by you if you do it in person as well. We need to own it, it could have been any one of us who made a mistake, at some point in our kiting career. You have to take the heat for not standing up then, but stand up now.

As a kiting community, we get to decide how we are going to show up to the community at large. Lets make sure we as a whole are creating the impression we are willing to be accountable in person for. I don't know why this guy ran, but I bet he was scared. We each need to make sure that never happens again. We stay accountable, or we get shutdown.

If you want to chip in for Luz as a caring concerned kiter, I set up a paypal at smallworldalameda@gmail.com. I want to send the message that we are a community, who stands up for doing the right thing, not just a bunch of rowdy fun lovers (we are that too).

Here's a link that gets you to a paypal donate button for the same account. Many thanks to Stone for setting up the webpage!!

http://sites.google.com/site/luzaccident/

This is from an email from Yvonne to me, I think it communicates what happened for the family pretty well, and where they are at now. I edited to remove any thing identifying.
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Miguel is the god father. He speaks perfect English. His cell is xxx-xxx-xxxx. His cousin is the father, who speaks only Spanish. His name is Jose --------. . The girl's full name is Luz Karime -------- and was admitted to the Oakland Children's Hospital around 5:00pm Sat. They left immediately from the scene because Jose called Miguel to ask him the following questions do I: 1/ call 911 or 2/ drive to a hospital, and if so, which is the closest? The Family lives in xxxxxxxx. Miguel suggested putting Luz in the car immediately because there was no address to direct the 911 call. Miguel suggested the Oakland Children's hospital because he is a professional trucker, and is familiar with the area. These are humble people. They are not seeking for punitive damages. They want the kiter to be confronted, so that he would see that the scar is mere inches from her throat. This is the reason to put the picture out, because "picture tells a thousand words".

I've known Miguel for 9 months. He is my partner in kickboxing. We recently discussed kiteboarding because his nephew was contemplating in taking lessons. His nephew bought a kite from an unknown person on Craigslist, who confidently told him that the 12M Griffin was 'perfect' for a 15 yr old teenager. I highly encouraged Miguel to put his nephew through lessons. That is how Miguel approached me on Wednesday night in class, because of my connection. He just wanted to know how to file an incident report.

I feel strongly about this issue because it is equivalent to a 'hit and run'. The kite is a moving vehicle. The kiter 'hit', and took off. The kite lines are approx. 30 feet. The scream of a child echoes beyond 30 feet.

If you'd like me to coordinate a meeting between you and the family, I'd be happy to arrange the meeting.
- Yvonne
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Do the right thing.

[windhorny]

a note that smallworldaameda@gmail.com has no "l" in alameda but this is the correct email right? Just donated a fair amount of money so I hope this gets to the right person.

[davidllyon]

Hey Yuri, I screwed up on that, sorry, it's smallworldalameda@gmail.com with the l. I corrected it above. You'll have to cancel the payment I think.

I created a donate button on paypal, but not sure how to embed the html. That would make it cleaner.

[dz]

I sent donation, thanks for setting it up.

[Fassn8]

Just donated.

[Greg]

sending money is GREAT-

but NOT FORGETTING is BETTER!!

This IS a little WAKE UP call-- TO ALL KITERS
Best NOT to wait tell SHIT HAPPENS!
Keep the L.Z. CLEAR, KNOW how to SELF RESCUE..
Children and the PUBLIC must be PROTECTED with SAFEY ZONE of 200'.

[kief]

:text-yeahthat :text-yeahthat:

bump

[kief]

bump

[quote][quote="L.M.G."]sending money is GREAT-

but NOT FORGETTING is BETTER!!



if kinsley can get stickd up top
luz should as well

[robert22]

Boardsports wrote in the other thread:

"do you guys want to help me host a bbq/fundraiser for the girls family? we can offer a free self rescue and safety guideline clinic for everyone. name a date and i'm in!"

I think this a great idea and we would definitely like to donate/volunteer to help out for this event. It hits on the two key issues: fundraising for Luz and a chance for everybody to practice their self-rescue skills.

As an update, Luz has her next appointment with the doctors on Thursday (I'm guessing to check/remove the stitches?). Luz's family still has not recieved the doctor's bills. I have no idea how much the medical costs will be (several people have estimated about $2000). I'm hopeful that as a community we can collectively raise this amount to help out the family.

Also, as Kief mentions above, can the forum moderator stick this thread up top so that it's easier to follow the fundraising efforts?

Thanks to everybody who has contributed and please keep encouraging others to donate.

[davidllyon]

18 people have donated on paypal, 2 since Saturday, the balance is currently $528. If you're still thinking about it, go for it.