THE BRONX — Relatives of the two 13-year-old cousins who drowned in the Bronx River earlier this month will escort the teens to the Dominican Republic for their burial this week — thanks to more than $14,000 in donations raised by the community.
Nine relatives of Wellington Gavin and Erikson Villa, including the teens' parents, siblings and extended family, will accompany the boys' bodies on a series of JetBlue flights to the Dominican Republic Tuesday morning, according to the family’s spokesman, Rev. Joel Bauza.
The boys will be laid to rest on Wednesday at a cemetery in San Francisco de Macoris alongside other family members, relatives said.
Funds for the transportation and burial came from more than 100 private donors — some of whom donated as little as $1 — as well as the Acacia Network, a Bronx-based social services agency that picked up the $8,000 funeral costs, Bauza said.