Help needed

Dear neighbors- as some of you may know a car chase in Eastlake ended with an accident last Monday. As the driver was trying to escape the police he totalled a VW Eurovan owned by Katie and Dawson Cabbage, who live on the southwest corner of Lynn and Minor. The van is wheelchair-accessible and used to take their 10 year-old daughter Devin to doctors appointments, physical therapy, swimming lessons, or to the park to play.

This van has a wheelchair lift, and it is how Devin gets around. Devin's parents just invested $3,000 to fix the van, and cannot afford to replace it. Insurance will only cover the market value, but since this was a 1993 VW, the money won't go far.

Please help Devin's family replace her van. Any help you can give is sincerely appreciated!

How you can help

An account has been set up at Bank of America, and you can go to any branch to make a donation. Just tell them you want to give money to the Devin Cabbage Medical Transportation Fund.

Or you can mail a check to:

Bank of America
WA3-121-01-01
Attn: Devin Cabbage Medical Transportation Fund
1600 Eastlake Ave E
Seattle, WA 98102

Or you can donate online via PAYPAL:
Click on the PayPal donation button below. If you don't have a PayPal account, it's simple & free to set up. Please put "Devin's Van" in the "Payment For" section.

From: Dawson Cabbage [mailto:dbcabbage@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 3:47 PM
To: Carsten Stinn
Subject: Re: accident

Hi Carsten,

Thanks so much for your email! I'm gald you wrote, as I wanted to get in contact with you and with the Eastlake News folks to get some more people involved. By all means, please publish our story on the Eastlake blog. You can find some information at www.devin.freewebspace.com. There is also a story at www.king5news.com. If you type 'devin' into the search box, you'll find her story under 'disabled girl loses special van to police chase'. Apparently, the direct link I sent out to some people doesn't work, so that's your best bet to getting to the news story.

Devin has severe Cerebral Palsy & is in a wheelchair. Our VW Eurovan was specially equipped with a hydraulic lift so we could get her in & out to take her to all her appointments, around town, to the swimming pool, etc. We have been in contact with our insurance company, and most likely the car will be totaled. They don't make Eurovans anymore, and it will not be cheap to get another or something like it. The other problem is that the special lift requires modification to the vehicle (and not every minivan has the right dimensions to fit Devin or a lift) which costs a few thousand dollars. Our van is a 1993, so the compensation for it will likely be less than ideal. We set up a bank account in Devin's name in order for people to help with donations. We also set up an online PayPal account that is linked directly to that bank account so people can make donations online.

In terms of fundraising, Devin's mom had a conversation with some folks at the Hopvine Pub on Capital Hill, and they have agreed to host a fundraising event there. So perhaps with some of our neighbors' help in getting the word out, we can get some specific details & have an event there. If you have other suggestions, please let us know-- we have never had to do this before and we certainly do not know what we're doing or how the particulars are supposed to go!

Thank you again for your email, and we'll talk with you soon.

Katie (Devin's stepmom)