Cruisin’ for a cause

After a car accident in May took the life of 33-year-old Tyrell Miller, community members have come together to support his family in the aftermath.

“They are good people,” Trevor Paulus said. “Tragedy hit and sometimes people just need a hand.” When Miller passed, his girlfriend Shannon Eads was pregnant with their son. On Sept. 24, Eads brought little Knox Miller into the world.

Paulus brainstormed with his friend Kim North-Mullin to find a way to help ease the burden for the new mom.

They looked back to how the cruise nights put a smile on faces when people were stuck inside during the pandemic. “Let’s do something where we don’t tie people up for time, but we can get people together,” North-Mullin said.

The baby shower community cruise night will be held uptown from 5-7 p.m Saturday, with people standing uptown and at McKinley Park collecting donations for the family.

“They are a hard working family not looking for a handout,” Paulus said. “But we all know what it takes to get by anymore.”

North-Mullin knows first-hand how this community steps up in the face of tragedy. After moving to Creston from Michigan in 2000, her husband, Bob, took his life in 2006.

“When Bob died, the community wrapped its arms around me and didn’t let go,” she said. “When you’re at your lowest and you’ve got strangers going to pick you up, and they don’t owe you anything. This community is amazing at stepping up, stepping in and making you feel like you have a place - like you’re not alone.”

North-Mullin had three kids when she lost her husband, and even though she wasn’t from Creston, she always had help. “Life just doesn’t stop,” she said. “Administrators, neighbors, people you see out and about, people you don’t even know, were there.”

They are primarily looking for monetary donations to help get Eads through the winter rather than baby clothes or supplies.

“You know you’re never going to be able to repay them,” North-Mullin said. “They’ll never know that all these little things add up to huge things. Even just the money or what we might raise for it. People just being out there supporting her. You might need it two years from now or two days from now.”