Vigil held for students killed in bus crash in SE Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Several dozen gathered in a sanctuary blocks away from Furr High School to offer up prayers to Heaven for the families of the two teen girls killed in a bus crash this morning headed to the school.

Their purpose was simple: "...for us to let the community know, and to let Furr High School know that there's a place of solace here. A place of peace as well," said Pastor L.D. Lee with Greater Vision Church.

PHOTOS: Deadly school bus crash in southeast Houston

He and his wife Alfredia say this hit close to home for them as parents and church leaders.

"Immediately you think about your own children," Alfredia Lee says. "And of course a lot of our students are students at that school. A lot of our members are there. So immediately we went into prayer."

One of those was Genesis Gordon. She took Russian with one of the victims, 14-year old Janecia Chatman.

"Everybody was sad. It was different. Not the normal Furr," Gordon tells us.

Sixteen-year-old Blaine Dever does not go to Furr, nor did he know any of the victims. But he says he still feels the pain from their loss.

"It makes you think about life much more seriously because you never know when it can happen to you," said Dever.

"I think we take for granted that we send our children to school every day and we expect them to come home," added Dever's mom Chevelle Wilson. "My son rides the bus every day and I never really thought about his safety going from the house to school."

Back at the scene, crews work to fix the guardrail the bus went through. And the memorial to the victims grows.

Travis McGhee drove from Southpark to drop off a stuffed animal and offer up his own prayer for the families.

"I have four kids and I get up every morning at 5:00 to take my daughter to the bus stop," said McGhee. "This could have been my kid, it could've been anybody's kid out here. I would like to support the family and everybody that's involved."

There are two GoFundMe accounts set up. One has been set up by Janecia Chatman's family to help with funeral expenses.

The Furr high school community set up the second one to help cover funeral expenses for the two who passed, and medical expenses for the survivors, http://www.gofundme.com/FurrHighSchool.