CHARDON, Ohio — The family of a Chardon school shooting victim has found a way to honor his memory by helping others.
What You Need To Know
- It’s been 10 years since a school shooting in Chardon left a community devastated
- Daniel Parmertor was one of the three young men killed in the shooting
- His family has established the Danny Parmertor Memorial Fund in his honor
Ron Parmertor’s laptop is full of memories of a young man with a big smile and personality.
“He was a funny kid,” said Parmertor. “He always had good one liners, my brother used to joke with him all the time and he used to always fall for his jokes. He was a caring, loving kid and very good with computers.”
Danny Parmertor was only 16 when he was killed in 2012. His loss was devastating for many.
“It has gotten easier. I think anything over time, it seems to get easier, but it doesn’t mean we haven’t forgotten,” said Parmertor.
The family has made sure he isn’t forgotten through the Danny Parmertor Memorial Fund. Ron is the president and the organization is operated by Danny’s family and friends.
It provides a scholarship in Danny’s memory for students from Chardon and Auburn Career Center.
Ron said Danny’s parents wanted their son to be remembered.
“That was one of their biggest fears was that Danny died and that he would just be forgotten,” he said. “That’s something that Danny’s parents definitely did not want to happen. So, you know, as a group we tried to figure out, brainstorm together, on what would be the best thing to do to help keep his memory alive.”
In the almost decade since the fund started, more than $20,000 have been raised and given to more than 40 students.
“Our team gets together, they do interviews with these kids and they really pick the kids based on, you know, is this kid really like Danny,” saod Parmertor. “And they actually become part of our family now, because part of us now lives in them.”
And as the family continues to raise money to help those like Danny have a bright future, they’re happy others have joined them in keeping his memory alive.
“I had a friend the other day just, you know, call me up like ‘hey, my work just donated $500 towards your organization.’ Which, I mean, we didn’t ask her to do, she just kind of did it on her own and it’s very, very humbling you know, to be having people on our side to want to do that for us,” said Parmertor.
The 10th Annual Danny Parmertor Memorial Fund Raffle is March 25 in Mentor. More information may be found at their website.
