Garfield High School graduates Bailey Sage Meola and Sydney Schumacher were hiking on Nepal's Langtang Valley Trek during last weekend's devastating earthquake. The 19-year-old girls have yet to communicate with their families and their whereabouts are unknown; Q-13 Fox reports that an anthropologist saw the friends in the area the day before the earthquake.
Meola's mother has set up a fund to raise money to help find the girls; so far more than 250 people have contributed over $17,000 to the effort. Presently, US Special Forces are traveling to the Langtang region to find survivors. Contribute here; donations that are not able to be put towards Meola and Schumacher's recovery will be given to a nonprofit engaged in relief work in Nepal following the April 25 quake. Also, please help spread the word on Twitter and Facebook.
UPDATE 5/7: Per the Garfield Highschool PTSA, here are three additional things you can do support Schumacher and Meola:
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Thursday, March 7 at 11:56 AM there will be a worldwide moment of silence.
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Friday, May 8th at 8:30PM there will be a candlelight vigil at Madison Park Beach.
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Anytime: Tweet a picture of yourself holding a sign that says: #LangTang #HoldOnToHope and send to Facebook page Langtang missing/Found People
​More information and updates are here.
UPDATE 5/14: The Seattle's Child staff send our heartfelt sympathies to the Meola and Schumacher families. Per IndieGoGo:
There are no words to describe the depths of our sorrow and loss. We believe that our girls, Bailey Sage Meola, and Sydney Jo Schumacher, perished during the earthquake and catastrophic landslide in the Langtang region of Nepal. When Sydney’s brothers, Will and Paul, searched the entirety of the trek, and saw the immense and unfathomable destruction and devastation, it was clear that there was no chance our girls had survived. Although our strong desire has been to hear final confirmation from the US Embassy, and to receive our girls’ remains, we haven’t, and may never. We have been profoundly moved by the support and love we have received from near and from far, far away. In due time we will announce our direction with donations made to our IndieGoGo, to aid the people & economy of the Langtang Valley region in the names of our beautiful daughters. You have all had your part in helping us move through these dark days.
Thank you.
The Meola/Brown Family
The Schumacher Family
