Alliston Curbside Pickup
It was on the morning of March 4th that Ashna Khanna's world turned into a nightmare. That morning the 14 year old Alliston girl was repeatedly stabbed with a knife by her father; an attack that sent her to Sunnybrook hospital in critical condition.
In those few moments, a girl's life was changed forever and her family spiralled into a vortex of horror.
Her friends at school, awoke to the news that morning that left them in stunned shock. One of them, Summer, felt compelled to go to the hospital as soon as she could get there, just to comfort Ashna by her presence. In order to do that, she had to go into work with her dad at the Ontario Food Terminal in the middle of the night, so that he could take her to the hospital after work later that day.
Her dad was filled with compassion too. When he thought of his own daughter, he couldn't imagine something like this happening to one of her classmates and his heart was full of the desire to do whatever he could to help.
When they got to the hospital they were asked to wait, and they did, for three hours. Through a miscommunication, no one had told the family they were there. When they finally did get in to see Ashna, it was enough just to be with her and for Ashna to know one of her friends was there.
Brian and Frances, Summer's parents, immediately thought of the practical help that the family would need. Bills don't stop coming in when a tragedy strikes and with the consent of Ashna's mother, they went to a bank in Alliston and set up a trust account for Ashan's family, where donations could be made.
Readers of this blog will know that I briefly made mention of Ashna on my Thursday evening blog post entitled, Just a Thursday Evening in Bond Head.
On Friday morning, before leaving for work, I noticed that someone had used the search words "Alliston Curbside Pickup," and it brought them to Whatever He Says. I thought that was strange, but didn't think any more about it.
I drove to my office and was rushing to gather items needed for a meeting at 10.30 in another town, when the phone rang. It was Frances.
"Belinda! Brian was on your blog last night," she said, "And he said that you wrote about Ashna."
Brian, who is not a reader of blogs, had Googled "Alliston Curbside Pickup," and it took him to this blog. It happened because I wrote that I walked down the driveway to pick up our blue boxes from the curbside, and because I used the name of our village, Bond Head (which is near Alliston) in the title. This combination of "coincidences" resulted in Brian landing on this blog, out of all of the millions of blogs in the world, on a night that I had mentioned his name in a blog post.
Do you think that might be God?
Two people contacted me for details of the bank account after Thursday's blog post. In case there are others who would like to help, here are details of the bank account:
The account has been set up at the National Bank.
The Alliston branch has also waived the administration fees and all service charges on the account for the next six months.
The account number is 0027128, and the transit number is 08601. If needed, the institution number is 006.
Call Hillside Pentecostal at 905-936-2177 or the Furuyas at 705-435-8802 for more information.
There is also a bake sale to raise funds for the family on May 3rd, to be held at Alliston Pentecostal Church at the same time as a concert. Anyone who can help with donations of baked goods, please let Frances know at 705-435-8802.
Proverbs 3:27 (New Living Translation)27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it
when it’s in your power to help them.
In those few moments, a girl's life was changed forever and her family spiralled into a vortex of horror.
Her friends at school, awoke to the news that morning that left them in stunned shock. One of them, Summer, felt compelled to go to the hospital as soon as she could get there, just to comfort Ashna by her presence. In order to do that, she had to go into work with her dad at the Ontario Food Terminal in the middle of the night, so that he could take her to the hospital after work later that day.
Her dad was filled with compassion too. When he thought of his own daughter, he couldn't imagine something like this happening to one of her classmates and his heart was full of the desire to do whatever he could to help.
When they got to the hospital they were asked to wait, and they did, for three hours. Through a miscommunication, no one had told the family they were there. When they finally did get in to see Ashna, it was enough just to be with her and for Ashna to know one of her friends was there.
Brian and Frances, Summer's parents, immediately thought of the practical help that the family would need. Bills don't stop coming in when a tragedy strikes and with the consent of Ashna's mother, they went to a bank in Alliston and set up a trust account for Ashan's family, where donations could be made.
Readers of this blog will know that I briefly made mention of Ashna on my Thursday evening blog post entitled, Just a Thursday Evening in Bond Head.
On Friday morning, before leaving for work, I noticed that someone had used the search words "Alliston Curbside Pickup," and it brought them to Whatever He Says. I thought that was strange, but didn't think any more about it.
I drove to my office and was rushing to gather items needed for a meeting at 10.30 in another town, when the phone rang. It was Frances.
"Belinda! Brian was on your blog last night," she said, "And he said that you wrote about Ashna."
Brian, who is not a reader of blogs, had Googled "Alliston Curbside Pickup," and it took him to this blog. It happened because I wrote that I walked down the driveway to pick up our blue boxes from the curbside, and because I used the name of our village, Bond Head (which is near Alliston) in the title. This combination of "coincidences" resulted in Brian landing on this blog, out of all of the millions of blogs in the world, on a night that I had mentioned his name in a blog post.
Do you think that might be God?
Two people contacted me for details of the bank account after Thursday's blog post. In case there are others who would like to help, here are details of the bank account:
The account has been set up at the National Bank.
The Alliston branch has also waived the administration fees and all service charges on the account for the next six months.
The account number is 0027128, and the transit number is 08601. If needed, the institution number is 006.
Call Hillside Pentecostal at 905-936-2177 or the Furuyas at 705-435-8802 for more information.
There is also a bake sale to raise funds for the family on May 3rd, to be held at Alliston Pentecostal Church at the same time as a concert. Anyone who can help with donations of baked goods, please let Frances know at 705-435-8802.
Proverbs 3:27 (New Living Translation)27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it
when it’s in your power to help them.
Comments
No one that I know has any idea what the antecedent to the attack was.
Ashna is back in school already, which is a miracle in itself, but is not talking about the event. She may well be unable to remember it as the mind has ways of protecting us from unbearable pain.
I hope she is getting much needed support at school and home.
I hope she knows that it wasn't her fault... No one deserves something like that to happen to them EVER, no matter what the "reason" is.
I can't understand how something like this could possibly occur between individuals of the same species. It's just mind boggling!