Oologah Raises Money For Hospitalized OSU Parade Victim

The Oologah community raised a little more than $2,300 Saturday morning for the Oologah marching band mom who was hit in last weekend’s Oklahoma State University homecoming parade.

Sheri Bates still is in intensive care at an Oklahoma City hospital.

Many call breakfast the most important meal of the day, and Saturday morning in Oologah, it was.

Rhonda Wolters was one of about 300 people who showed up to the Masonic lodge to donate to the Bates family and eat their fill of sausage, waffles and biscuits and gravy.

“I just wanted to help out any way that I could, because I knew it was going to be a long road to recovery and I wanted to help out,” Wolters said.

Special Coverage: OSU Homecoming Tragedy

Bates still is recovering from head trauma after she was hit by the car in last Saturday's tragic incident at OSU's homecoming parade in Stillwater.

Investigators say another Oologah native, Adacia Chambers, intentionally drove through the crowd at the end of the parade where Bates was watching.

The crash killed four people and nearly 50 others.

It's an incident that has rattled Oologah.

Bates is a former teacher who occasionally substitutes at the school. But she's well known for other reasons.

"I know her personally,” Masonic Lodge Master Dale Braden said. “Her daughter and my son are both in band, so there's the connection there. She works up at the local bank so everyone knows her that goes in."

"Well, I've been keeping track of Sheri's condition through a few friends, and like I said, I worked at the school and I've heard from the school and just people in the community, people that really know her,” Wolters said.

Saturday morning's breakfast is just one way the community is pulling together to make sure one of their own knows her home town is here to help.