BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — In the wake of a crash at Edwards Air Force Base that killed 8 people, the community, locally and around the world, is stepping up to help the families affected.
The Bakersfield Condors are holding a jersey raffle, and a nonprofit focused solely on helping families affected by aerial mishaps is running an online fundraiser. All proceeds will go directly to the families in the coming weeks.
The Condors are raffling off one of their patriotic jerseys — the same ones the team wore just a few seasons ago, with tickets ranging from $5 to $100.
Ryan Holt, the team's VP of Marketing and Communications, said the organization sees itself as more than just a hockey team.
"We take great pride in being stewards of our community. We don't view ourselves as just a hockey team. We don't view ourselves as, you know, just 60 minutes, and we have fun on Fridays and Saturday Nights. We view ourselves as the community's team. So when one of us hurts, all of us hurt in some way, shape, or form, and we have a great platform with the Condors to be able to do good for the community," Holt said.
Online, the Fallen Wings Foundation is also accepting donations for the families affected by Monday's tragedy. The nonprofit was started by Kenny Durbin, a 13-year Air Force veteran and current Air National Guardsman, and his wife, Steph.
Durbin said his wife has taken the organization and essentially taken it "from lead to gold."
The Fallen Wings Foundation has been raising funds for families affected by aerial mishaps since the fall of 2019 and has already disbursed just over half a million dollars. In the first 12 hours of the fundraiser, around 150 individual donors stepped up to help.
"The military, the Air Force, the aviation community as a whole is, albeit very dispersed, is very, very strong. And so we wanted to be able to take that and make it a cohesive whole and really put our line of effort down in a very, very specific manner," Durbin said.
In an update from the base on social media, more than 700 base members gathered at the chapel on Edwards Air Force Base on Wednesday night for a candlelight vigil to honor the 8 individuals who died in the B-52 crash.
On Thursday, the remains of the crew were slated to be airlifted to the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs at Dover Air Force Base for identification confirmation and preparation for return to their families.
WATCH OUR RECAP COVERAGE OF THE DEADLY PLANE CRASH BELOW:
According to a post on the installation's Facebook page, a base memorial service is in planning, with more details to follow next week.
The Edwards airfield reopened Thursday, but regular flight testing will not resume until next week.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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