Community lends a hand to family of Derick Lwugi

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Neighbours are rallying around the family of Derick Lwugi, a Calgary man who was among 18 Canadians killed in an Ethiopian Airlines crash.

Lwugi worked as an accountant for the City of Calgary and helped create the Kenyan Association of Calgary.

Personal and corporate donations are now being raised to help support Lwugi’s wife and their three children.

Members of a good samaritan group known as the Mahogany Angels have been collecting cash, gift cards and corporate donations for the family.

A posting on the group’s Facebook page says Lwugi was a member of the southeast neighbourhood.

(Credit – Mahogany Angels – Facebook)

 

“He did tremendous work connecting the community with Calgary, making the Kenyan people more blended,” said Gladys Kivia, Lwugi’s wife.

On top of the gifts from the Mahogany Angels, an A&W restaurant in nearby Auburn Bay will donate one dollar from every combo sold Wednesday to the family.

Kivia says she is overwhelmed by the support her family has received adding that her husband was always trying to give back.

“He wants us to leave Calgary a better place then we found it. He loved Calgary, that’s why he started working with the City of Calgary, to make it a better place.”

All 18 Canadians have been identified in the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed near the capital of Addis Ababa on Sunday.

READ MOREWhat we know about the Canadians on board the Ethiopian Airlines plane 

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