By Bryan Bloodworth
BLOOMINGTON – It’s been a year of tears for those affected by the devastating airplane crash that claimed the lives of Illinois State deputy athletics director Aaron Leetch; ISU associate head basketball coach Torrey Ward; Redbird boosters and Bloomington-Normal businessmen Terry Stralow, Jason Jones, Andy Butler, Scott Bittner and pilot Tom Hileman.
And while the pain will never go away, the wives, fiancés and children of those seven men want people to honor and remember their memory through Project 7, beginning Thursday on the one-year anniversary of the tragic event.
PODCAST: Listen to Lefty’s interview with Joan Stralow, Lindsay Leetch and Lindsey Jones on WJBC.
Joan Stralow explains what Project 7 is and its purpose.
“Project 7 is seven acts of kindness on the 7th in memory of our seven wonderful men,” Joan said. “We’ve had such an outpouring of love and kindness and compassion for a long time and many, many people saying. ‘What can I do? How can I help you?’
“It’s hard to really answer that question. But in our conversations, we realized the common thread with all of these guys is their kindness toward everyone in many of the things they did and just because of the type of guys they were.”
Lindsay Leetch said the acts can be anything.
“It doesn’t have to be grandiose,” she added. “It could just be something very simple. It doesn’t even have to cost money. It costs nothing to be kind. I started talking to my girls on some of the things we can do. It could simply be helping their teachers carry things down the hallway or bringing flowers into the school office. It doesn’t have to be big.
“The common thread with all of them was their kindness. They would do anything to help anybody and they were very humble about it. They did not seek attention or a pat on the back. We want to bring something good from this tragic event and we think this would be a good place to start.”
Lyndsey Jones said the group, which also consists of Carrie Bittner, Ami Hileman, Ward’s fiance Johnene Beisel and Butler’s fiance Jamie Fox, is glad to have each other to lean on for support.
“None of us want to be in this situation of course, but we have a sisterhood now that will last forever,” added Jones. “For some reason those seven guys were chosen to be together and now we’ve been chosen to be together. We’re getting through it all and we lean on each other a lot.”
Leetch said the rallying cry among the group is “press on.”
“You don’t move on from something like this and anyone who has experienced loss can relate to that,” Leetch continued. “There is that time of pre-tragedy and post-tragedy. Everything has a defining moment, however we can move forward and I really think that’s what these guys would tell us.
“We can’t change it, but we can control how we can move forward. If Aaron were here to tell me, his words would be press on.”
Jones also said to appreciate what you have in life.
“Don’t take for granted what you have and love the people, who mean the most,” Jones added. “Appreciate the goodness that you see in the people, who you love and know that it could change in a heartbeat. That something you never saw coming could rock your world in a matter of seconds.”
Stralow also offered this bit of advice.
“Lean on those who offer to help you,” she said. “Take that kindness and compassion and lean on them. It will make a difference and don’t put off tomorrow what you need to do today or what you should do today or what you’re thinking about doing today. Do it.”
The group also said it can’t thank people for all the love, support and kindness it has been shown throughout the past year. That’s what makes Project 7 so meaningful to them.
“The support from the community has been overwhelmingly fantastic and we are so forever grateful,” said Jones. “Project Seven is something the guys would have wanted to do to pay back to thank the people for taking care of their family and friends.”
Bryan Bloodworth can be reached at lefty@wjbc,com
