Community Corner
Fundraiser Helps Family Of Man Who Drowned In Gulf Of Mexico
Cartersville resident Tony Orlando Jackson, 21, died Sunday while swimming in the gulf in Panama City Beach, Florida.
CARTERSVILLE, GA -- The community is rallying around the Bartow County resident who drowned over the weekend while swimming in the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. A GoFundMe account has been created to help the family of Tony Orlando Jackson, 21, the Cartersville resident whose body was recovered Sunday afternoon east of the M.B. Miller County Pier in Panama City Beach.
As of Tuesday evening, more than $1,500 had been raised by contributors. The campaign is hoping to collect $8,000. Jackson was the person who could make anyone smile "no matter what he was going through," according to the GoFundMe page.
"He was a hard-working person and worked long hours at his job and always made sure he took care of his priorities," it adds. "He deeply loved his family and especially his siblings."
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Officers with the Panama City Beach Police Department were dispatched to a call of a swimmer in distress around 2:30 p.m. at the pier at 12213 Front Beach Road. Beach goers told police they lost sight of Jackson "when he was caught by a large wave," the agency previously told Patch.
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The Cartersville resident's body was recovered two hours later about a half-mile east of the pier, police added.
Unsurprisingly, the family is worried how they will afford funeral and other emergency expenses, so the public is asked to come together to help Jackson's loved ones, who are "hurting immensely knowing that he won't be coming home to hug them."
"I’m asking all his friends and anyone who sees this to think of what his family is going through," the page continues. "Any donation at all will be of huge help. He was truly an old soul with a one of a kind personality. Thanks so much for your reading and donating what ever you can."
You can click here to consider making a donation to help Jackson's family.
Image via GoFundMe, a Patch partner
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