On Friday, May 20th, the community of Yorba Linda came together to raise money for Alexis Evans and her family. Alexis has a very tragic yet inspiring story that represents resilience, tenacity, and undeniable strength.

While in high school, Alexis was very academic and highly involved on campus by participating in many extracurriculars such as yearbook class. Her dream finally came true when she was accepted into Berkeley. 

But all of this changed in the blink of an eye. As Alexis was on her way to her internship in Los Angeles, the freeway came to an abrupt stop, but the person behind her didn’t and sped right into her at 80 mph. Her life ended on the scene, but by a miracle, a nurse happened to be in a car near her and saved her life. 

As she was brought back to life, she had broken her C1 and C2 spinal cords and there is a 0% survival rate. Unfortunately, she is now paralyzed. Her and her family have dedicated their lives to getting her better and even the smallest steps have shown significant progress in her journey to recovery.

The Chick-fil-A leadership academy at Yorba Linda High School helped organize a fundraiser for which they started planning in January. They were very determined to get this event to happen and through their hard work, they were able to make this possible.

The fundraiser was at the Messiah Lutheran Church and it was 10 dollars to enter. The outside of the church was filled with many events that everyone could enjoy, such as face painting, bean bag tosses, and a silent auction, which had items to bid on from a Universal Studios ticket to a signed baseball. Additionally, AJ Starr from Universal Studios came and brought laughter through these hard times.

All of the money raised from the entrance fees and events were donated to the Evans family. All of the generosity and support that was shown throughout the community helped the Evans family tremendously.

People wrote questions they had for the comedian and he would respond in a funny and interactive way. Ironically, the first question he pulled out of the jar was “When is this over?” The crowd roared with laughter while he had a perplexed face and was laughing as well. He then proceeded to tell a story of his childhood and continued on with some more comments that the audience had written for him.

Each day, Alexis continues to make significant progress. As for some of her recent progress, Alexis was finally able to eat solid food and she chose In-n-Out Animal Fries. She also was able to take a selfie and send it to her sister, which was an incredibly touching moment for her family. Through the efforts of Mustangs and the community to support the Evans family, it showed how true the words “Once a Mustang, always a Mustang” are.