Pizza fundraiser will help boys who lost mom in crash

Dawn Buechel didn't really know Alicia Earley, but she's heading up an effort to provide for the Croswell woman's two small boys.

Buechel, of Kimball Township, is president of Woman's Life Chapter 920. The chapter's 10 members are having a fundraiser, Pizza with a Purpose, from 1-9 p.m. Tuesday at Casey's Pizza and Sub Shop, 628 Huron Ave., Port Huron.

If diners mention Pizza with a Purpose or present a flier available on Facebook, Casey's will donate 10 percent of proceeds to help Charles Joshua "CJ" Kelly Jr., 4, and Christian Mateo Earley, 2.

"We thought that since they were left behind and they are going to be taken care of by their grandmother, and if she needed any extra money for coats or food, this would come in handy," Buechel said.

"Their great grandmother is Karen Hartig, and she is in our group," Buechel said.

Leigh Anne Hartig Deaner is CJ's paternal grandmother. She said she has him and Christian is in Midland with his father.

"Actually CJ is doing well, as well as he can be," she said.

Earley, who was 24, died Nov. 6 in an early morning single-vehicle crash on Harris Road near Wildcat Road in Grant Township. She had worked at Best Buy.

"Those people are wonderful," Buechel said. "They actually did Christmas presents for the boys."

She said the Woman's Life chapter will match up to $500 raised during the Pizza with a Purpose event.

"Anybody who walks in the door whether they knew them or not, can say they want their 10 percent to go towards Pizza with a Purpose," Buechel said.

Chapter members will be at Casey's selling chances on gift baskets to raise more money for the boys.

Buechel said the fundraiser isn't the group's first charitable effort.

"We try to do a couple a year," she said. "We don’t turn anybody down. If they ask, we do it."

Contact Bob Gross at (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobertGross477.