Flatbush

Grieving Flatbush family needs financial help for funeral

August 29, 2014 By Matthew Taub Special to Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn Brief
An emotional relative is embraced by Councilmember Mathieu Eugene.
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The grieving relatives of a Flatbush family that died in a tragic Long Island car accident last Saturday are pleading for the public to open their hearts–and wallets–to help them pay for a proper funeral. An online funding campaign has been enacted, with over $13,000 raised towards the $75,000 goal.

Council Member Mathieu Eugene, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, other elected officials, members of the family and local community and religious leaders held a press conference at City Hall Friday morning to get the word out to the larger Brooklyn and even city-wide community.

“We stand together united in commitment and strong support of this family during such a horrible tragedy,” Eugene said. He went on to describe the grandmother and mother who perished as “very kind and deeply dedicated,” while the three children “had a bright future until tragedy struck.”

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“We are asking all New Yorkers to give what they can on this difficult time in their life,” Eugene said, adding words of gratitude for Borough President Eric Adams, who immediately offered to coordinate and assist when Eugene approached him.

It was around 11 p.m. last Saturday that Myriam Lebrun 37, of East Flatbush, Brooklyn, was heading west on the Southern State Parkway in Babylon with her three children and their grandmother, when her car veered off the highway, crashed in to a tree, and burst into flames. Lebrun, her children Marcus Jeanty, 14, Marcel Jeanty, 9 and Kayla Jeanty, 8, and their grandmother Moise Yolande, 68, were all pronounced dead at the scene.

A range of speakers, from Pastors to Godfathers to local religious and community leaders all echoed words of strong support, along with the need for the public to pitch in.

The solidarity crossed ethnic and religious lines: Rabbi Eli Cohen of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council appeared with the family to emphasize the need to support them, emotionally and financially.

“The entire community of Flatbush and Central Brooklyn feels this is a loss for us,” Rabbi Cohen said. “To go from precious one life in one moment to tragic suffering in the next is unbearable. We’re here to say ‘we’re with you.”

Borough President Adams reminded the crowd of the twin tragedies of the “emotional weight of losing a family of five compounded with having to bury them.” He personally pledged $500 towards the funeral fund, and asked others to do the same.

“If we can come together, we can assist them during thisficuly time,” Adams said.

The online fundraising site can be reached at http://www.gofundme.com/dhyelc. Information regarding the funeral can be found by contacting Councilmember Mathieu Euguene at 718-287-8762.


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