‘Tacos for Tommy’ honors Brookfield, Ohio man Thomas Hutchinson killed in car accident

BROOKFIELD, Ohio (WKBN) — A Brookfield mother is raising money to help others after tragically losing her son earlier this year.

On Saturday, dozens of people attended Tacos for Tommy throughout the day in honor of Tommy Hutchinson, who died suddenly in a car accident this past July.

“We were struggling when he passed away,” said Pamela VanHoose, Hutchinson’s mother. “We didn’t plan to lose our son at 26 years old.”

With community support, VanHoose raised enough money to bury him, and through the taco fundraiser and basket raffle, she’s returning the favor.

“I’m still mourning my son. I’m never, ever going to get over that,” said VanHoose. “But to help another mother take the burden off of worrying about burying her kid, it means the world.”

Hutchinson’s family says he was the type of guy that lit up a room.

“He would help anybody. He was there any time … and he loved his dog,” said Robin Klink, Hutchinson’s aunt.

“Tommy was a jokester. He loved football. He played basketball. He played softball. He loved the Cleveland Browns,” said VanHoose.

Youngstown boxing champion Kelly Pavlik also made an appearance. He donated two memberships to his gym for the raffle and says he wanted to do anything he could to help the family.

“Anything that could help raise the awareness, raise funds, you know, different things like that,” said Pavlik. “That’s pretty much all someone could do at a time like that.”