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LAKE MILLS, IA - You may remember this tragic story from a few weeks back. An 18-year-old woman leaving work at a Minnesota Pizza Ranch was stabbed to death.
Her coworker, Darek Nelson, stands charged with murder, and victim Vinessa Lozano's son is without a mother.
Now, support for Lozano's family is spanning state borders. Workers at a North Iowa restaurant are helping the victim's family during this difficult time.
The tragedy in Montevideo hit close to home for the folks at Pizza Ranch in Lake Mills, so they decided they wanted to help out.
Although it happened over 200 miles away, the tragic murder of 18-year-old Vinessa Lozano feels a lot closer for Lake Mills Pizza Ranch Co-Owner Cathy Caldwell.
"I know the manager up at the Montevideo Pizza Ranch and I can't imagine being in their shoes," Caldwell said.
What touched Caldwell and her employees the most is the one-and-a-half-year-old son the victim leaves behind.
"When our staff heard about it, they wanted to do a benefit for Carson, to go into a trust for him," said Caldwell.
All the tips Pizza Ranch recieved on Sunday afternoon will go to Carson. But that's not all. Some of the employees are going the extra mile.
"A lot of the other employees, as well as myself, are donating our wages for the day," said Assistant Manager Kim Nygard.
For Nygard, the decision to donate her wages was an easy one to make.
"I have a six -year -old daughter, so I really connected even though he is only a year and a half," said Nygard.
Many of the other employees also donated their hard earned money and some even came in on their day off to help out.
"I'm supposed to be at wrestling practice but you know, I just thought this would be really important," said Trevor Larson.
"I felt like it would be the right thing to do, to help and volunteer my hours," said Kati Smalley.
"You can picture yourself our somebody that you work with having to go through the same thing, so we wanted to be helpful as much as we could," said Jan Belica.
As those at the Montevideo Pizza Ranch cope with the death of their coworker, Caldwell hopes they can feel the support coming from 200 miles away.
"We're family here. And it doesn't matter if it's just Lake Mills Pizza Ranch or across the country," Caldwell said.
In just three hours, they were able to raise over $400 dollars. The restaurant is also donating a percentage of their sales from Sunday, and the corporate office is considering matching the money raised by the Lake Mills store.
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