Community raises money for girl's St. Louis choir trip after Bronzeville shooting leaves Chicago family's car damaged
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CHICAGO (WLS) — A shooting on Chicago’s south side shattered a family’s plans for a long-awaited trip for their daughter.

While the family was not hurt in the shooting, it cost them thousands of dollars in vehicle repairs.

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The family’s vehicle is now repaired after bullets came ringing through the passenger side window, and it’s caused quite a disruption in their life and the plans they had. However, the community is now coming to rally right behind them.

It’s been a stressful couple weeks for the Douma family as they are dealing with the aftermath of a shooting at 4900 South Cottage Grove that involved their vehicle.

On February 15, Desirae Douma and her daughter Raylin heard gunshots while they were inside their home. The next morning, there was an inconvenient revelation.

“We came out at 7:30 Sunday morning and found what looked like snow in my car but it was really shattered glass and the bullet went through the passenger side seat where Raylin normally sits,” Desirae Douma said.

Thankfully the mother and daughter were okay and not near their car at the time of the shooting. However, as a single mother, the expenses to repair this vehicle are a lot to bare, especially with the expense of a school choir trip coming up for Raylin and her team at Kenwood Academy.

“Replacing car seats… replacing the sun visor replacing a window… renting a car to get back and forth to work… getting an Uber in order to get to the car, it’s just a lot and all of that money was not designated for that purpose,” Desirae Douma said.

The money that was saved up to send Raylin Douma to St. Louis for her choir trip was suddenly gone, leaving it all in doubt.

“Kind of having that taken away from me because of the car was just like okay, I knew we were eventually gonna be able to pay for it because… you know miracles,” Raylin Douma said.

And just like that, a miracle did in fact come through. Friends, family and even strangers across the community have raised more than 1,700 dollars to get Raylin Douma to St. Louis.

“That was wild… it got funded in one day almost and it’s just been wonderful to see family and friends and even strangers come out for Raylin,” Desirae Douma said.

So now the mother and daughter are now so excited to be able to head out on their trip together in mid April to St. Louis for the choir trip.

“I look forward to just being able to spend time with my choir members outside of school… just because we are such a big group it’s hard to get us all together at venues so the fact that we’re able to go as a majority is incredible,” Raylin Douma said.

Chicago police told ABC7 there’s no further information on the incident.

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