Train derailment: GoFundMe for De Soto victims tops $17,000 in just a day

DE SOTO, Kan. (KCTV) - The De Soto community has rallied around two sisters lost in this week’s train derailment.

On Monday, 58-year-old Rachelle Cook and 56-year-old Kim Holsapple were both aboard the Amtrak train that collided with a dump truck near Mendon, Missouri, on Monday.

Both women were from De Soto, Kansas.

News of the tragedy has quickly spread through the small town, where even people who did not know the sisters want to help.

Customers at the Shear Images Salon had been talking about the loss through the day, although Cook and Holsapple were not customers.

“This is just such an amazing and loving community,” said Anna Klecker, a nail technician. “When something that tragic happens, the community is super open-hearted.”

A GoFundme page for the sisters has raised more than $17,000 as of Thursday afternoon. The page is verified by GoFundMe.

According to the fundraiser’s creator, the two women were on a four-day getaway with their mother and one of their daughters.

The page states:

Klecker was confident the town would soon start to rally around the sisters’ family through a community fundraiser or other means.

“We definitely have a heart for others in the community,” she said.

Previous coverage:

NTSB is looking into intersection where train derailment happened

Four people killed in fatal Amtrak crash identified

NTSB spends Tuesday investigating deadly Amtrak train derailment in Missouri

NTSB investigates train derailment, shares more about crossing in Mendon

Fourth person dies in Amtrak train crash near Mendon, about 150 injured

Passengers help each other climb out of train cars following deadly derailment

Boy Scouts played major rescue role after train derailed

Site of train derailment was on MoDOT’s safety improvement list for 2022

4 killed when Amtrak train derails in Mendon, Missouri

Leavenworth County students on Amtrak train are ‘okay’ following crash

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