Less than 24 hours after the shootings that claimed the lives of five local people, the Lake Havasu City community banded together to provide help and assistance to the victims’ families.

“Our main goal is to just take care of everyone in this time of need,” said Randy Rizzi, friend of the victims. “We want to do whatever we can to help them put their loved ones to rest, and after that we’re going to do what we can to help out with food, bills and anything else they’ll need.”

Rizzi, along with a few other close friends of the victims, set up an account at a Lake Havasu City Wells Fargo branch, 1601 N. McCulloch Blvd. The account, known as the Opossum Drive Memorial Fund, was set up Monday morning, and by that afternoon, more than $1,000 had already been donated. Separate account information to donate to each of the victims also is available at any local Wells Fargo branch, representatives said Monday.

“We wanted to make it easy for anybody to donate so if they just walk in and tell the people at the bank who they want to donate for, they’ll set it up,” Rizzi said. “(Deborah Nyland) is also going to be hurting not just from what happened but also from the hospital bills for a long time. These are really great people, and some of them were hurting financially before this even happened. So we’re doing whatever we can to make sure they don’t have to think about money right now.”

At the same time, fellow family and friends set up a PayPal account called the Nyland Family Memorial Fund at www.nylandfamilymemorialfund.com. Representatives with the local Albertsons also said they donated food to the families in town Monday morning.

“We’re a small community and when something like this happens, you do whatever you can to help,” said Bruce Hoverman with Albertsons. “We got a phone call from (a family member) and we weren’t going to let them pay for anything. We just said, ‘What do you need? We’ll get it to you.’”

In addition to helping financially, local organizations also are coming together to help the grieving families in other ways. Representatives with Mohave Mental Health said they encourage “anyone in the community who is grieving over the recent tragedy” to call the Lake Havasu City branch at 928-855-3432.

Representatives with Domn8er Power Boats, at 1790 Industrial Blvd., said they also have set up fundraising for the victims’ families and will remain open during the upcoming Labor Day weekend. Representatives said they plan to remain open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 4, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 5, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 6.

The Lake Havasu City Police Department also has coordinated efforts to offer the families a chaplain Sunday, said Capt. Carl Pederson. He also confirmed that a critical incidence response team was set up to help the victims’ families and also employees with the police department.

Those interested in donating to the Nyland Family Memorial Fund are asked to visit www.nylandfamilymemorialfund.com. Those interested in donating to the Opossum Drive Memorial Fund are asked to visit any local Wells Fargo bank or to find out more information by calling 928-453-1888. Representatives with the victims’ families said they plan to coordinate services and a fundraiser later this week. Those looking for more information on the fundraiser are asked to contact Rizzi at rrproducts@frontiernet.net or at 928-453-6411.

You can contact the reporter at nbruttell@havasunews.com