Benefit Raises $15,600

As many as 350 people helped raise $15,600 for Tara LaCelle’s medical costs Sunday evening at a benefit concert and auction at the Coeur d’Alene Eagles Lodge.

LaCelle, 20, was injured July 7 after a bullet fired from her neighbor’s apartment hit her as she slept.

Despite the chilly weather Sunday, people still came to the event, said Carol Allen, a long-time friend of LaCelle’s family. LaCelle, recently released from a Spokane hospital, came to thank everyone for their support. She now is living with her family in Post Falls.

A quilt, made by hand in the 1930s, raised $650 in a raffle. LaCelle’s grandmother, Edith Warren, won the quilt. She then gave the prize to to LaCelle.

Dan Mathewson was the night’s auctioneer.

“He did a great job,” Allen said. “He just really helped raise the majority of the money.”