Tragic death of homeless friend inspires Merced family’s Christmas giving
When 13-year-old Londyn Ekizian saw a homeless man peer into the window of a restaurant her family was dining in during a cold, rainy day on Yosemite Avenue last winter, she felt she needed to do something for him.
The man was wearing a T-shirt in the winter with no jacket.
“I just felt bad,” Londyn said.
Londyn, an eighth-grader at Stone Ridge Christian School, and her father, local chiropractor Erik Ekizian, got the man a hot cup of coffee and a burrito. They struck up a conversation with 53-year-old Dale McCarthy, who told them someone had taken all his clothing.
The encounter moved the father-daughter duo to put together a package of clothing and hygiene products for Dale the next morning.
“He was so grateful, but he was more concerned about Londyn than himself, asking her questions about what she was doing with her life,” Erik said.
Londyn and Erik befriended Dale and kept tabs on him through this year.
But McCarthy was killed in November in what police described as a hit-and-run collision. The death was painful for the Ekizians. The family wanted to do something to honor him.
So what started as a small post-Thanksgiving donation drive for a few of the homeless on Monday turned into a communitywide effort to help dozens of homeless residents on Christmas Eve.
The Ekizians read news reports of a 53-year-old homeless man who was killed the night of Nov. 15 after being struck by a white van on Yosemite Avenue and G Street, according to Merced police. The man was reportedly sitting in the roadway when he was hit.
Police identified the driver of the van as 36-year-old Livingston resident Narkesh Kumar, who owns Turmeric Indian Cuisine on Yosemite Avenue in Merced. According to police, Kumar drove away from the scene after the collision. He was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run and posted bail a short time later.
Kumar has not yet been charged by the Merced County District Attorney’s Office in connection with the collision, according to Merced Superior Court records.
On occasion, investigators will wait to make sure they’ve built up a solid case before officially charging someone with a crime, said Rob Carroll, Merced County chief deputy district attorney.
Authorities declined to release the identity of the victim Monday because the Merced County Sheriff’s Office was still trying to reach and notify the next of kin, Deputy Daryl Allen said.
But Erik said a friend of Dale’s has confirmed he was the victim.
“It’s hard to talk about,” Erik said, his eyes welling as he recounted the friendship between his family and Dale. “It took a while to sink in for us.”
“It’s going to be hard not seeing Dale around Raley’s” where the family frequently met him, said Wendy Ekizian, Londyn’s mother.
The family, including Londyn, Erik, Wendy, and others put together about 10 care packages and handed them to individuals at the homeless camp across from the Merced County Food Bank.
They befriended several homeless men and women who shared stories about Dale. And the family planned to make more care packages and give them out on Christmas Eve.
Erik announced his family’s plan to do another donation drive. But this time, he opened it up to Facebook friends and others in the community.
Donations poured in. And on Monday, the family put together more than 100 packages and gave them to homeless individuals at the camp near the food bank, Court House Square Park and the D Street Homeless Shelter.
“Doing something like this, warms people’s hearts, and (shows) that there is kindness in areas, generosity out there instead of just hate,” said Chris Wight, a 34-year-old Merced resident who was homeless until recently when a friend let him stay with him.
More than 500 adults and children were identified as homeless in Merced County in 2018, according to the Merced County Continuum of Care. About three in five of those individuals resided in the City of Merced.
“We all have hard times,” said Wight. “We try to help each other out the best we can, sometimes not. But ... just (stopping) and talking to somebody, listening, makes their day.”
This story was originally published December 24, 2018 at 3:45 PM.