Fall festival raising money for New Bedford teen who lost two family members in crash

WESTPORT, Mass. (WLNE) — Westport’s South Coast Harvest Festival stepped up for a young girl dealing with the loss of two relatives after a crash.

All of the money raised from the fair’s raffle will go to 15-year-old Nani.

People can also drop off gift cards or money if they don’t want to purchase a raffle ticket.

“When we heard about what was happening, it was never a question of are we going to do something, it was how and what can we do to help, so we jumped right in,” festival Assistant Director Shannen Viveiros said. “We have a really great community here in Westport and surrounding towns so there was no hesitation for people to jump in and donate to the raffle.”

Nani was involved in a violent SUV rollover that killed her mother and her 13-year-old brother on Interstate 195 in New Bedford on Sept. 6.

Since the crash, Nani has been staying with an aunt of Viveiros.

“My aunt’s a giver, she always gives more than she takes and so when this whole incident happened, she was the person that Nani called, she was at the hospital the day of the accident and she took her in right away,” Viveiros said.

During the crash, the few belongings that Nani had were gone in an instant.

“She lost everything in that car crash because her family was living out of that vehicle and so the family came together, my aunt took her shopping for some of her favorite food and snacks,” Viveiros said. “We got her some new clothes to wear, and we’ve been doing everything we can to try to bring some normalcy and love and peace to a very difficult situation.”

ABC6 News had the chance to meet Nani while at the festival covering this story and she was in good spirits.

“She’s here with us today enjoying the festival, spending some time with the animals, which was her request, she wanted to have some fun with the animals and of course we made that happen for her,” Viveiros said. “We just love her, she’s our family now.”

The South Coast Harvest Festival continues through Sept. 29.

“Genuinely, truly, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much,” Viveiros said. “This is going to a great cause. It couldn’t be going to a better girl and I know that she is so grateful.”