Nov 17, 2008 2:59 pm US/Mountain
Church Community Pays It 4ward In Memory of Teen
Written by CBS4 special projects producer Libby Smith
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Dallas and Tamika Burton
CBS
The idea behind CBS4's Pay it Forward Colorado project is to give $1,000 to a Coloradan (or group of Coloradans) who will use the money to change someone else's life. Submit your ideas
on YouReport. Below lies CBS4's Nov. 16 report. AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) -- The youth group at Colorado Christian Fellowship in Aurora continues to meet, but someone is missing.
"I was really upset. I was devastated. I was really angry. I wasn't in my right state of mind," youth group member Karl LaBrode told CBS4.
LaBrode is referring to the death of 13-year-old Dallas Burton.
On Halloween night, Burton, along with three other teens from the Colorado Christian Fellowship, was riding in the back of a car when police say it was hit by another vehicle that was driven by 46-year-old Donald Edwards. Burton died of his injuries three days later.
"It was just us. The way I'm holding his head, it was just us," said his mother, Tamika Burton.
This single mother is devastated to loose her only child. For all of Dallas' 13 years, it was just the two of them -- best friends, helping one another through life.
"He was like an adult; very wise, very smart, took his time with people," Tamika remembered about his son.
Members of his youth group say the same thing. They describe Burton as funny and easy to be with -- a friend to all. Now they're searching for the lesson in the loss of someone so young.
"One thing that came into my head like after the funeral is your life, it doesn't last forever, so do what you can now … make the impacts you can now because you never know when it's your turn to leave this Earth," LaBrode told CBS4.
"It doesn't matter how long you stay in a place, but how much you've done in that moment," Tamika added.
The single mother feels terribly alone without her son, without her best friend, but she has the support of an entire congregation praying to give her strength. That's why they asked CBS4 to pay it forward $1,000 toward the medical bills that Burton incurred while he was in the hospital.
"I will be okay. My mind says I will be okay, but my heart lags behind," Tamika said.
Additional ResourcesContributions may be made to:
The Dallas Burton Memorial Fund
FirstBank of Aurora
2300 South Havana Street
Aurora, CO 80014.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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