Little Elijah had wandered, as children do.
But the short life of Elijah Marsh was truly heart breaking.
On Friday night, as someone who speaks all around the country on the topics of Foster Care and Child Abuse, all I could do was put my hands on my head, and cry after reading about Elijah’s story. A grown man, 50 years of age, crying like a child. (several times)
I didn’t know 3 year old Elijah, but this baby, died in one of perhaps the worst ways possible. Little Elijah, was found frozen to Death, locked outside in his diaper after wandering out of his Grandmother’s apartment. It was minus 27 Degrees in that Toronto Canada community.
Elijah wandered into the cold Thursday night, wearing nothing but a diaper, T-shirt and boots – and was found dead near his home. Elijah was reportedly huddled up to an air conditioner unit just 1,000 feet away from where he got locked out of his family’s apartment. He may have spent up to six hours in the nearly impossible temperatures.
Hundreds of people had volunteered to help find the boy when his family awoke to find him gone. Police wept as they carried his body to an ambulance, the NY Daily News reported.
There is nothing good that can come out of this situation. A baby…..a baby froze to death in the cold. But there is a little solace, some hope.
The community has come through to help Elijah’s family with funeral costs via a crowd-funding site which has been set up.
Elijah’s death prompted Justin Kozuch, a Toronto man who has a three-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter, to start a campaign on Tilt.com to help raise money. Close to now 200,000 in donations from more than 3,000 people. Tilt.com waived all credit card fees for those who contributed. It all started with a $20,000 target. Sadly, nothing will bring back this precious baby.
All I could think about Friday night is when I was in Canada just a few months agospeaking to the Foster Parents Society of Ontario. Lovely, beautiful people that care, and greatly care about the children in their care. Foster Parents that I will never forget. In May I will be in the Toronto area, but this time before the League of Ontario Foster Families.