Shaken Baby's Parents Grateful for Community Support
By: Shannon McConathy
Updated: September 25, 2011
Almost 6,000 people follow the Prayers for Austin Westbrook facebook page. Most of them are complete strangers to Chris and Jennifer Westbrook, but the messages of encouragement and love are a big help to the family.
"Chris and Jennifer are so blessed every time they look at the page and see that thousands of people are just there for them," said family friend, Lacey Brown.
Brown has been a close friend of Jennifer Westbrook for years. She says the family is showing incredible strength, but they'll need a lot of support as things progress.
"It's going to be something that they'll need support for a long time for, whether that support is physically, emotionally or financially, it's just one thing I really want people to remember," said Brown.
Dymorie Burns understood that the family would have other needs later. She hardly knows the Westbrooks, but she and other ladies with Trinity Baptist Church started planning a garage sale for next weekend.
"A lot of people want to do something and they don't know what to do. I had this idea yesterday and of course shared it on Facebook and social media networks, and everyone just really, really wanted to support it, so I decided to go ahead and do it," said Burns.
The money raised from the sale will directly benefit the Westbrook family. While she wants a way to provide monetary support, she still believes prayers are needed.
"He's moving in the right direction, but even though he's healing right now and God is doing that work in him, we have to remember that this family is going to need us for much more than that," Brown said.
With positive news coming daily, Burns doesn't want people to forget the tough road the family could have ahead.
"I would just ask that people continue to pray for this family, for Austin and just keep uplifting him," said Burns.
And with donations already starting to come in, the community is encouraged to remember that every little bit really does help.
"Chris and Jennifer are so blessed every time they look at the page and see that thousands of people are just there for them," said family friend, Lacey Brown.
Brown has been a close friend of Jennifer Westbrook for years. She says the family is showing incredible strength, but they'll need a lot of support as things progress.
"It's going to be something that they'll need support for a long time for, whether that support is physically, emotionally or financially, it's just one thing I really want people to remember," said Brown.
Dymorie Burns understood that the family would have other needs later. She hardly knows the Westbrooks, but she and other ladies with Trinity Baptist Church started planning a garage sale for next weekend.
"A lot of people want to do something and they don't know what to do. I had this idea yesterday and of course shared it on Facebook and social media networks, and everyone just really, really wanted to support it, so I decided to go ahead and do it," said Burns.
The money raised from the sale will directly benefit the Westbrook family. While she wants a way to provide monetary support, she still believes prayers are needed.
"He's moving in the right direction, but even though he's healing right now and God is doing that work in him, we have to remember that this family is going to need us for much more than that," Brown said.
With positive news coming daily, Burns doesn't want people to forget the tough road the family could have ahead.
"I would just ask that people continue to pray for this family, for Austin and just keep uplifting him," said Burns.
And with donations already starting to come in, the community is encouraged to remember that every little bit really does help.
