Strangers donate generously to support family of hydro worker killed during Easter ice storm

A GoFundMe page set up for a hydro worker killed in a workplace accident is on pace to raise $175,000 for his pregnant widow Jaymee and their three-year old daughter Layne.

Mitchell Place, 29, a hydro worker from Whitby, was killed on April 13 while making repairs to Ottawa’s power grid during the Easter weekend ice storm, only three weeks before his second daughter is scheduled to be born.

Created on April 18, the campaign’s already surpassed it’s original target of $150,000; much of it coming from anonymous donors and strangers after hearing about the tragedy on The Sam Laprade Show on CityNews on April 20.

“We knew there would be an outpouring of generous support for Mitchell and Jaymee,” Alan’s wife Renie Place told host Sam Laprade. “As you can see from his GoFundMe page, many people are missing Mitchell. Everyone loved him.”

“It’ll help Jaymee get her life into a good position to give her two little girls a great little home and remind them of their daddy always,” Place added.

Like his son, Alan was a hydro worker, and remembered working the ice storm in Ottawa for three weeks in 1989.

“It’s a tough, dangerous job,” the grieving father said. “Losing Mitchell has really taken away from us all.”

To read more about the family’s campaign or make a donation, go to Mitchell Place’s GoFundMe page at https://www.gofundme.com/f/mitchs-legacy