Vigil3 Edited — A vigil was held in Opelika to honor the victims and families. (The Observer in Opelika, AL)

Tragedy struck Dadeville on Saturday night when a shooter opened fire at a 16-year-old girl’s birthday party, killing four young people and injuring 32 according to a release from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

The Community Foundation of East Alabama has established the Caring For Dadeville Fund in order to help the Dadeville community begin to recover and move forward from this devastating and shocking incident.

Keep reading to learn more about the Caring For Dadeville Fund and how you can help.

Remembering the victims

On Monday, Tallapoosa County Coroner Mike Knox officially identified the four people who lost their lives in the Saturday night shooting. The victims have been identified as:

Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, 18
Keke Nicole Smith, 17
Marsiah Emmanuel “Siah” Collins, 19
Corbin Dahmontrey Holston, 23

Caring For Dadeville Fund

The Community Foundation of East Alabama has five counties that they represent, including Tallapoosa County where Dadeville is located. They connect donors with causes to support the communities of East Alabama.

In an interview with WSFA 12 News, CFEA President Katie Whittelsey spoke about the goal of the Caring For Dadeville Fund.

“It’s our goal as a community foundation to connect donors with causes that matter– and Dadeville matters. That’s our hope with the Caring For Dadeville Fund when we established it. We want Dadeville to know you matter– these lives matter. It’s our hope that we can showcase to this mourning community that they are important.”

Whittelsey also spoke about the importance of any donation, big or small, to support the Dadeville community during this time.

“It’s very early in this process and there are a lot of details that are unknown. That being said, what we do know is that something went wrong in Dadeville and that we have a lot of children that we need to support. We are looking to you to say please send us your dollars– we will make sure they get to the right organizations. We are capable of handling small donations, big donations– every donation matters.”

If you are interested in supporting the recovery and progress of the Dadeville community, you can visit www.cfeastalabama.com/caring-for-dadeville to make a donation. According to the site, all donations made to the fund will be distributed as grants to organizations that are addressing the ongoing needs of victims and community members.

To make a donation by mail, please send check to: