UPDATE: A Jacksonville family can now bury a mother of three who was hit and killed in Jacksonville after they surpassed their fundraising goal by more than $600.
Jodi Hale's family told Action News Jax on Wednesday that Hale's body was being stored at the coroner's office until they came up with $2,500 to bury her. By Tuesday morning, the family had the money they needed to lay her body to rest.
ORIGINAL STORY: A Jacksonville family is struggling to make funeral arrangements for a mom of three who died after she was hit by a car.
Jodi Hale’s family said she loved to walk at night, when she could see the stars.
She died after she was hit crossing New Kings Road south of Dinsmore late Sunday night.
“She was the life of the party,” her brother-in-law Lee Stokes said.
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He said Hale's parents are struggling to make funeral arrangements and provide for her three children, ages 10, 13 and 16.
Family said the children have no contact with their father.
“Three children -- no mom, no dad, with grandparents that aren't able to take care of them, don't have the money to take care of them, could barely take care of themselves,” Stokes said. “We don't know what we're going to do.”
Stokes said family is raising money for Hale's funeral on a GoFundMe page.
“We can't even afford right now to bury her,” Stokes said. “What's really hurting, killing them right now, is her just lying up there at the coroner's office."
Action News Jax told you Tuesday about changes coming to New Kings Road.
Following half a dozen pedestrians deaths on the road in the last eight months, the Florida Department of Transportation is spending $10 million on lighting and sidewalks.
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FDOT expects the project to be done within a year.
For Hale’s family, it's too late.
“If you've got family out there that you haven't been in touch with for a while, hard feelings between you, something left unsaid, left undone, get off your [expletive] and go find them,” Stokes said. “Make it right, because you don't want to feel what's going on around here.”
FHP said as of now, no charges have been filed against the driver who hit Hale.
Cox Media Group
