A woman whose son knew the two brothers who drowned at Warren Dunes State Park last weekend has set up a GoFundMe for their struggling family. In one day, it has raised over $100,000.
Ahmed and Saleem Qasem went to the park with two friends Sunday evening and got into Lake Michigan. All four began struggling in the cold water.
Bystanders helped pull out two of them, but Ahmed and Saleem weren’t pulled out of the water until 35 minutes later.
All four were taken to the hospital where Ahmed and Saleem were pronounced dead.
Razia Malik, whose son knew Ahmed and Saleem, decided to create a GoFundMe to support the devastated family.
She set the goal to $100,000, which seemed optimistic at the time.
“When we started, we had no idea what to choose. We just went ahead and decided on a number. This type of tragedy, we had no idea where to even start, what our community was able to give, and we are so thankful that we have reached out goal,” said Malik.
Malik says that even though they’ve surpassed their goal, the GoFundMe will remain active.