NC Amish Family Humbly Accepts Public Help After Accident

I can’t highlight every Amish buggy accident, because sadly there are just too many of them. But I wanted to draw attention to this story for a pair of reasons.

One is that it’s my home state of North Carolina. You don’t hear about buggy accidents so much in NC, simply because the Amish population is so small.

The buggy accident happened two weeks ago in the Ellenboro Amish community (this is the Swartzentruber Amish settlement; the state’s second community at Union Grove is a New Order Amish group).

A passing truck startled the two horses pulling the family buggy of Henry Yoder and his wife Sarah. Here’s more on what happened from the Shelby Star:

On Wednesday, Aug. 7, the Yoder family was driving their horses and buggy on Washburn Switch Road to Polkville when a large truck went by, startling the animals and causing them to jump the guardrail, according to Sgt. Brian Theis with North Carolina Highway Patrol.

He said the truck did not stop but was not required to by law because no contact was made between the two.

That bothered me at first that the truck driver did not stop…but he may not have even been aware of what happened. More:

Five people were in the buggy at the time, including a baby, and four people were injured in the incident.

Henry Yoder, the patriarch of the family, got the worst of the impact, losing an ear, two teeth and suffering fractures to his face.

Henry Yoder’s injured arm. Image: WSOC-TV 9

More from WSOC-TV 9:

The horses ran and one jumped a guardrail flipping the buggy. The driver, Henry Yoder, was pulled onto the concrete.

“I thought it was going to kill me,” said Yoder, who spent 2½ days in a hospital.

“He has a broken nose. His cheekbones are broken and both sides of his jaw,” said Karen Crawford, a family friend, who lives near the Amish community west of Shelby.

His wife, Sarah, was hurt in the crash and is using a wheelchair to get around. Their 9-month-old grandson was in the buggy too but not injured.

Sounds like an awful accident and one they were fortunate to survive.

The family says they have no money to pay for medical expenses. So the above-mentioned friend Crawford stepped in to set up a GoFundMe page for the Yoders. It’s already raised over half of the $15,000 goal.

Here’s what Crawford wrote on the fundraiser page:

The head of household, Henry Yoder, is a 45-year-old man that spent 2 days in intensive care with facial and head injuries.

The daughter, Susan, and her husband, Herman Hershberger, (early 20s and parents of the 9-month-old baby) have serious “road rash”. His left arm has third-degree abrasions, from his shoulder to his fingertips. The dressings on the abrasions must be changed several times a day.

The wife of the 45-year-old man, Sarah was cradling the baby and received injuries on her knees and some fingers. The baby was spared injury as she was clutched in the arms of her grandmother. This leaves the responsibility of keeping the family a-float to the only male in the family not involved in the accident a 16-year-old young man.

The Amish generally do not ask for help, so I am asking for them. If you would like to show your concern/neighborliness, I am sure they would greatly appreciate it.

Outside the Yoder home. Image: WSOC-TV 9

The other thing about this story is the humility shown by Yoder:

“They couldn’t believe that many people cared about them,” Crawford said. “They are just such humble people.”

Yoder said, “I kind of felt guilty taking it. I never want to ask for anything.”

Challenges paying for medical bills?

On the matter of medical bills, I do wonder what their church has done to help out. It’s possible the expenses are more than the local community can comfortably handle.

The Ellenboro settlement has ties to the much larger Ethridge, Tennessee community, but itself is relatively small.

Family friend Karen Crawford, who organized the fundraiser, speaks about the Yoders. Image: WSOC-TV 9

In more progressive Amish churches, they have more formalized community plans which families regularly pay in to (in lieu of using commercial health insurance).

But that likely wouldn’t be the case in this plain group, contributions would be on a more informal basis. Additionally, Swartzentruber Amish tend to be less wealthy than other groups.

Amish traditionally do reach out for help beyond their home churches in the case of large bills, but I’m assuming that wasn’t done here.

In any case, good that they did accept it, giving the non-Amish community a chance to help out. Here’s to them getting enough to cover their bills. Finally, a big cheer to Karen Crawford for helping out her friends in a time of need.