Photo courtesy of the Duran family
By Mitch Traphagen
RUSKIN — A community garage sale has been organized as a benefit for the family of Diego Duran, the 12-year-old boy shot in the head by a bullet that was fired into the air just after midnight on New Years Eve. The garage sale will be held on January 28 and 29 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the FireHouse Cultural Center in Ruskin, near the Ybor Grill on Shell Point Road.
Organizers are hoping people in the South Hillsborough area will donate items to sell at the sale. Items may be dropped off for donation at the Firehouse on Saturdays January 14 and 21 and on Friday, January 27 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
In addition to the garage sale, a fundraising dinner will be held at the Southshore Falls Community Center in Apollo Beach on Saturday, January 21 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Entertainment is planned along with a fundraising raffle and / or auction.
Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door or at The Chakra Center at 137 S. Pebble Beach Blvd., Suite 201 in Sun City Center.
A Facebook page has been created to provide updates on Deigo’s condition. Within the page there is also an option for people to donate via credit card to help the family with medical and other expenses that have been incurred since the shooting. The address for that page is: www.facebook.com/friendsofdiegoduran.
On Saturday, Diego was moved out of the intensive care unit at Tampa General Hospital and into the pediatric unit. His condition has been upgraded from critical to fair. As of press time, the bullet was still lodged in his head as doctors were waiting for his condition to further improve before undertaking the invasive surgery that would be necessary to remove it.
