Thousands raised in memory of Luke Howe after being found in river
The local community set up a GoFundMe in honour of the 14-year-old
A fundraising effort in honour of 14-year-old Luke Howe has raised tens of thousands of pounds as the community continues to grieve.
Howe was sadly found by Greater Manchester Police during a search operation after he went missing on Thursday evening (January 18th).
Luke was last seen near his grandparents' home on Bankhall Lane in the Hale area of Trafford, but soon disappeared - prompting the force to launch a major search operation to find him.
The community rallied behind Luke's family, who had set up a Facebook group to gather support to find him.
During a search of the River Bollin in Hale on Friday (January 19th), Luke's body was discovered, bringing an end to the search effort and leaving his family and the local community in mourning.
Now, a fundraising campaign has been set up by Luke's aunt Jessica Howe and has already gathered thousands of pounds from well-wishers and fellow mourners.
The family set a goal of £50,000 to raise for the sake of Luke's school, which became an integral part of his life.
Having created the GoFundMe on Friday, donations have already poured in and, at the time of writing, has raised over £35,000 in Luke's memory.
Writing in the description, Jessica said: "As I’m sure so many of you are aware now, our beloved nephew/ son/ brother/ grandson/ friend Luke Howe was tragically found dead today.
"Speaking with his sister, Lydia, we want to focus now on doing something positive in Luke’s name and we have decided we would love to fundraise for his school, Brentwood College, in memory of his name."
Carrying on, she added: "Brentwood is an outstanding school for SEND pupils with additional needs and we are hoping to fundraise for new soft play for the school for anyone who would like to contribute as, in his sister’s words, there was nothing he loved more.
"If there is anything you can spare to help this school that did so much for Luke, we’d be forever grateful xxx."