MARLIN, Texas — The tragic death of 15-year old Bryce Fikes on Monday morning has reverberated throughout Central Texas and in the heart and soul of Mindy Hamilton, a school teacher in Riesel.
"My heart fell to the floor and I started praying," Hamilton said. "We as teachers came together and said prayers, it's been hard."
Hamilton said she hasn't been able to stop thinking about the Fikes family even though she has never met them. She said it's all she could think about as she got ready to sleep, especially the phone call that changed their lives forever.
"I feel for the Mom," Hamilton said, tears running down her face. "All I could think about was that family getting that phone call and how your heart just drops and you just don't know what to do."
Hamilton, an avid baker, said she felt compelled to do something and decided to post on Facebook Monday night her intention to bake as much as she can from her kitchen for donations that will go to the Fikes family.
"I am going to start [Tuesday night] and bake until nobody needs anything, I guess," Hamilton said. "I am just going to put it out on Facebook and find a way to meet these people."
Hamilton said she is taking special requests and if you have one you can send her a message on her Facebook page.
Salem Wilde, a close family friend, said she's thankful for people like Hamilton who care so much about a family they don't know.
"It's tough, that's what I am going to say. It's very tough. Being a mother myself of a 15-year old child that knows Bryce very well, it's very hard to know that this family is enduring what they are," Wilde said.
Hamilton said she's not doing any of this for accolades or attention, she said it's about strangers coming together to help a fellow family in their desperate time of need and doing it through community and healing.
"I don't think I would say anything to them because there's nothing that can be said," she said what she'd say to them if she could find the words. "They just need love and support and prayers right now."
