Community raises more than $170,000 for Skokan family in Boulder who lost son in weekend crash

More than 1,700 community members have donated over $170,000 to support Kelsey Skokan‘s Boulder family after the 17-year-old died Friday evening in a car crash that left another son injured and also heavily damaged their home.

Skokan and his older brother, Ian, were driving in a 1973 MG when a dump truck collided head-on with the convertible outside the family’s home on North 51st Street. The dump truck then crashed into the Skokans’ house, destroying a bedroom, the family said.

Kelsey, who was driving, was the only fatality, according to a police report, while Ian was transported to a hospital initially but is now back at home. The driver and a passenger of the semi-truck both sustained injuries, according to trooper Josh Lewis with Colorado State Patrol. No charges have been filed in the case.

When the call came in around 5:20 p.m. Friday, the Skokans were preparing for their nightly summer farm dinners, held on the 4-acre property. Kelsey’s parents, Jill and Eric Skokan, are the owners of Black Cat Organic Farm (which includes 425 acres total of cultivated and grazing land), as well as its corresponding restaurants Black Cat Bistro and Bramble & Hare.

RELATED: See the Skokan family and their Boulder farm in the first episode of The Colorado Plate

While the restaurants have remained closed throughout the pandemic, the Skokans continue to run a farmstand daily on their property and weekends at the Boulder County Farmers Market. Black Cat Farm encompasses a grain mill, hundreds of pigs and sheep, and some 50 acres of vegetables and herbs.

“If they don’t keep doing the farm dinners, there’s just going to be a lot of food that’s just going to go to waste,” said Doug Brown, a family friend.

Around 40 employees of the restaurants and farm continue to work while the family members, including two more siblings, Morgan and Avery, are taking a break to grieve.

Their GoFundMe page, which was created by friends and fellow farmers, encourages community members who wish to help to also support the farm’s activities, including produce sales and dinners, as the growing season nears its peak.

“It doesn’t sleep,” Brown said of the farm. “They have to keep going. Everything else can’t die.”

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