Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Meanwhile, here in Nuevo Aztlan....

Hundreds of people came out Tuesday night to help raise money for a North County high school student who remains in a coma after being injured during a football game last month.

The fundraiser was held at the Mr. Taco food stand in San Marcos. All proceeds from Tuesday night's food sales went to the family of 17-year-old Scott Eveland.

Eveland, a football player at Mission Hills High School, collapsed during a game on Sept. 14. Since that time, he has been in a coma on a respirator at Palomar Medical Center.

The fundraiser at Mr. Taco was the idea of the Cortes family, the owners of the restaurant. Guillermo Cortes is a student at Mission Hills High School.

"This makes me feel wonderful. This makes me feel like I'm helping the family and getting a little bit of stress off their back and helping them out a little bit with the money situation," Cortes said.

Eveland's stepfather, Paul Luth, said the family is grateful for all the support it has received from the community.

"It helps us get through each day, because we get up every day and it starts over. Our son's in a coma, and we need to go to the hospital," said Eveland's stepfather, Luth. "He's not getting better, and that's the hardest part."

The Mr. Taco event raised more than $7,000 for Eveland's family. The money will help pay for medical bills which continue to pile up.

"If it happened to me, I wish that somebody could do something like that for my family, which I'm sure they will," Mr. Taco owner Maria Cortes said.

"We're hoping for a miracle, and we are praying to God and we have our whole community doing the same," Luth said. "I really think that God is going to hear our message and he's going to bring Scotty back."