CORBIN, Ky. (LEX 18) — In March, a Corbin family faced the unimaginable when their 8-year-old died in a freak accident.
Eli Hill was playing basketball at home when the backboard collapsed onto him, causing severe trauma to the chest.
“Our lives are not the same and they're not gonna be the same,” said Eli’s mom, Ashley Hill.
Ashley said reality has started to set in for the family.
“It's been a little over three months, and I think some days it's even harder than when it first happened,” said Ashley.
Friends, teammates, and teachers will tell you that Eli was a good boy, but if you ask his parents, they’ll tell you he was the best boy, a nickname they've used a lot in the last three months.
“After the accident, when people came to visit us, to see us, that's the only phrase I could say,” said Eli’s dad, Adam. “It was a lot of shock, and I couldn't get into how special he was, how special he is, but I just said, 'He's the best boy.’”
Adam and Ashley describe Eli as a baseball fanatic, smart as a whip, and funny.
“He made life fun,” said Adam.
Above all, they remember Eli’s inherent kindness. With all the qualities to inspire good, Adam and Ashley got to thinking.
“Shortly after the accident, we felt a nudge that we needed to do something because Eli was too special and too important for his story to end the way it did,” said Ashley.
Through a new nonprofit, the Eli Hill Foundation Inc., they’ll recognize and award scholarships to individuals who live like Eli did.
Their first recipient is Whitley County’s Grant Zehr, MVP of Kentucky’s baseball Sweet 16.
“We're just so thankful and fortunate that we have this outlet to help us process this grief through the foundation,” said Ashley.
Only weeks off the ground, Eli’s foundation is already impacting lives. When awarded the scholarship, Zehr opted to invest the funds back into his local little league program to sponsor players in years to come.
“One blessing that we gave to Grant, because he deserved it, has now turned into years and years of blessing for who knows how many kids,” said Ashley. “We’re just amazed every time. It’s like Eli just spreads. When people hear his story and know about him, it's like everything he touched turned to gold.”
You can make a donation and learn more about the Eli Hill Foundation Inc. here.
