Details of Amanda Vignere’s accident:

On Thursday, January 8, seventeen teenagers and four adults from the First Baptist Church of Hammond left for McMillan, Michigan, to participate in the Annual Yooper Youth Rally held at Northstar Baptist Church. Brother Brian Hasse, our Senior High Youth Pastor, was overseeing the trip, and Brother Eddie Lapina, our Youth Coordinator, was one of the chaperones. They stopped in Gaylord, Michigan, on their way to the Upper Peninsula to go skiing at the Tree Top Ski Resort. While skiing, there was a tragic ski accident. Amanda Vignere hit a tree and was injured. She later passed away from her injuries. Amanda is the daughter of Scott and Connie Vignere, one of our faithful families at First Baptist Church.

 

At approximately 7:30 p.m. last night, Amanda was seen by some of the other teens as she was skiing down one of the slopes. The other teens were on a ski lift above her. The slopes closed at 8:00 p.m., and the teens were instructed to meet at the ski rental station to turn in their skis and load the bus. There were about six or seven teens who did not show up at 8:00 p.m. They eventually came in one by one, except for Amanda. Our folks began checking the restroom, the restaurant, and other areas to see if Amanda had come in earlier and was resting somewhere inside. They could not find her, so they filed a missing persons report at about 8:10 p.m. The ski patrol was immediately dispatched. At about 8:30 p.m., one of the patrols on his snowmobile found Amanda just off one of the trails. At that time, Amanda was still alive. They immediately loaded her in an ambulance and rushed her to the hospital. About two minutes before they reached the hospital, Amanda’s heart stopped. The emergency personnel began working on her. They worked on her for about 45 minutes in the Emergency Room, but they were not able to revive her. The ER doctor came out of the ER at around 10:00 p.m. and let Brother Lapina and Brother Hasse know that she had passed away.

 

Amanda was apparently skiing a groomed slope without difficulty, and then she somehow veered off the slope, hitting her head on a tree that was located about five feet off the trail. The doctor said that the severity of her injuries was due to the speed at which she was travelling. Because of the amount of snow that the Midwest has been getting lately, the slopes were in excellent condition for skiing.

 

Our pastor, Dr. Jack Schaap, was with Amanda’s parents here in Indiana until about midnight last night helping to make arrangements for the family to go to Gaylord. Scott and Connie, along with their seven other children, drove to Gaylord early this morning and arrived in the Gaylord area at about 7:45 a.m., Michigan time. The family is staying in a hotel in the Gaylord area until arrangements are made to bring Amanda’s body back to Indiana. Only her parents went to the hospital to see Amanda; her siblings stayed at the hotel.

 

Brother Schaap went to Hammond Baptist High School early this morning to meet with the staff and students there. Amanda was a junior this year, and she was very well liked by both the staff and her fellow students. Brother Schaap, Brother Hasse, and the school administrators are setting up ways to help the high school students cope with this loss.

 

Please pray for the Vignere family and the entire group that was enjoying this trip with Amanda. She was a member of Brother Brian Hasse’s ensemble, and this trip is the highlight of the year for the ensemble members. Funeral arrangements have not yet been finalized at this time.

 

For more information, please visit CarePages.com/carepages/AmandaVignere.