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Funds set up to help family of Duncan flagger hit by truck

Friends and colleagues of the flagger killed on a Duncan construction site are collecting donations to support the family she left behind.
Maggie Feeley.jpg
Maggie Feeley, a 29-year-old mother of three.

Friends and colleagues of the flagger killed on a Duncan construction site are collecting donations to support the family she left behind.

Maggie Feeley, 29, died Wednesday night from internal bleeding and brain damage as a result of being run over and pinned under a dump truck as paving work was being done on Beverly Street in Duncan.

Feeley has three children: Sierra, 10, and Adrianna, 8, who live with Feeley’s mother, and three-year-old Cassius, who lives with her common-law partner, Jorges Hidalgo, in the Cowichan Valley.

Feeley’s employer, Island Traffic Services, is covering the funeral costs and has set up a trust fund in her name.

“It’s overwhelming how much support is going on,” said Feeley’s boss, Al Jorgensen.

Feeley’s mother, Nina Buchwalter, said she was blown away at the offer to pay for the funeral. “Wow, what a gesture,” she said. “I cannot believe how much love and support she has.”

Hidalgo’s friend Pam Mitchell has started a fund (gofundme.com/4y66xs) to collect donations to cover immediate costs.

Within 24 hours of setting up the site, $3,000 had been raised. By Friday evening, the total was approaching $4,000.

“Even people who are donating $5 or writing on the donation page that they feel for the family, that is amazing in itself,” Mitchell said.

Hidalgo, who works for a disposal company, is struggling, Mitchell said.

She said he broke into tears when he saw the messages on the donation page.

“Just the fact that people are there for him. It’s a hard road ahead of him. There are a lot of people around him and a lot going on,” she said. “But when he’s alone and things settle down, I think things are really going to hit him.”

Mitchell also feels for the couple’s children, especially the toddler who will have to grow up without his mom.

“Cassius, he’s the sweetest little boy,” she said. “He’s definitely a miracle that Maggie left behind.”

Two separate bottles drives today will also raise funds for Feeley. Island Return It will be holding a bottle drive at Cowichan Secondary School in Duncan from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Island traffic employees are collecting bottles in Langford at 112-2932 Ed Nixon Terrace across from Steve Drane Harley Davidson.

The B.C. Flagging Association is organizing a candle-light vigil in Holland Park in Surrey at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, where donations will also be collected.

People can donate to the Maggie Feeley trust fund, set up by Ian Lamplugh, at any Scotiabank location by quoting branch 00620.

kderosa@timescolonist.com