Local

Thousands raised for Tripp Halstead at Zaxby's fundraiser

WINDER, Ga. — On Tuesday, customers crowded into to the Winder Zaxby's on Highway 29 for a common cause.

Hundreds of people went to the restaurant to help raise money for Tripp Halstead, 2, who is recovering from a traumatic brain injury he suffered two weeks ago after a large tree limb fell on him outside the Winder daycare he attends.

Ryan Newell told Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh he has followed this story from the very beginning.

Newell was there when the recovery began. He's a member of the Winder Fire Department who got the call about the child injured by the fallen tree limb.

"Any time you get a call like that, you hear over that it involves a child, you get a little more worked up. It does stick with you a little more," Newell said.

Harold and Carol Roberts didn't get that call, but many others like it.

"We were EMT's in New Jersey so we've been through a lot of things with kids and adults and everything else rescuing and fire and that stuff," Harold Roberts said. "It's hard to go through, especially with young one."

Families who turned out Tuesday all want to do what they can so they're eating at the restaurant.

Management is matching and donating 10 percent of all of Tuesday's sales to Tripp and his family. The goal is help keep Bill and Stacy Halstead by Tripp's side while he's in the hospital.

They're hoping to give a boost to the little boy with the big hair and bigger smile.

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