After losing friends in train-related accidents, Tiffany Davis decided something had to be done to increase awareness of rail safety and keep children off the railroad tracks in Villa Park and Lombard.
"I wanted to be helpful in my community," the 15-year-old Willowbrook High School student said. “I wanted to help and make the community safer so I don't lose a third friend."
Kristin Bowen, 14, one of Tiffany's closest friends, died Feb. 11 after being hit by a freight train while crossing the tracks just west of Addison Road. A month before Bowen was hit, Michael Christopher Mocarski, 23, also of Villa Park, committed suicide after a westbound train struck him as he sat on the tracks at Summit Avenue.
"She and Kristin go way back. This is her second friend she lost to the tracks,' said her father, John Davis, who is also trying to mobilize residents to erect fences and educate children and others about the dangers of crossing the tracks. Tiffany's other friend was a 14-year-old girl who had committed suicide on the tracks.
Tiffany said she is hoping to raise enough money by washing cars to help purchase thorny shrubs and new fencing near the tracks in Villa Park.
Tiffany, her classmates and other volunteers will be washing cars from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2801, 39 E. St. Charles Road, Villa Park. .
"I currently have 17 people, but I am hoping for 20 or so,' Tiffany said. “I would like to make $500 or so but more than that would be fantastic. I will be donating all money to the Villa Park's railroad safety committee."
Villa Park Village President Joyce Stupegia established the President's Committee on Public Safety last month in response to two rail deaths that occurred just weeks apart. .'
Committee members range from a state senator to a Union Pacific Railroad representative to local residents.
"So if a 15-year-old can do something just imagine what the community can do together,' John Davis said.
Tiffany said she's hoping to start a movement of sorts.
"I am doing this on my own, but I am hoping that when our community sees what we are doing as kids, people will be inspired to do something themselves to help out our community," Tiffany said.
Residents along Ahrens Avenue and Ahrens Court in Lombard have also started raising money to purchase shrubs to deter children from taking shortcuts across the tracks in their town, as well.
Wilson Brown's e-mail address is: wbrown@libertysuburban.com
Reprinted with permission from the Villa Park Argus