The tragic accident which claimed the lives of seven junior rowers, their driver, and their coach in Brazil on October 20th has inspired an effort to pay tribute to the lives lost and continue the work of the coach who died, Oguener Tissot.

Read the initial news report on the crash here.

The athletes represented Rowing for the Future (Remo Para o Futuro), a group Tissot started in 2015 to create opportunities through sport by bringing rowing to young people in the southern city of Pelotas at his program, Remo Tissot.

The team had just raced at the Brazilian Rowing Championships, winning several medals, and were returning home when the accident occurred. According to reports, the truck which crashed into the rear of the team's van and knocked it off the roadway had faulty brakes. All but one of van's passengers were killed; 17-year-old rower João Pedro Milgarejo was the only survivor.

To support the families and ensure that Tissot's efforts in the Pelotas community live on, Bernhard Stomporowski and an international group of fellow coaches and athletes started a GoFundMe site to donate money to the families of the athletes, the driver, the club in Pelotas, and to Tissot's own young family. He leaves behind a wife and small child.

Stomporowski, who got to know Tissot well while coaching the Brazilian National Team, was devastated by the news of the tragedy and knew he had to do something to continue Tissot's work.

"The core group around him [Tissot] and me came together and we decided that the project he started in Pelotas should not go down," Stomporowski told row2k. ""He changed too many lives.

"He changed lives from athletes of underprivileged backgrounds and we decided that this project at Remo Tissot cannot end."

Stomporowski said that the hope for the fundraiser is twofold. First, to ease the financial burden of the families--even though, as he added, "the emotional loss will be never filled"--and to fund the club and hire a new coach so Tissot's mission can continue.

He is working on the project together with Peter Antonie in Australia, Oliver Palme in Europe, and Mike Forgeron in Canada.

The inspiration, Stomporowski said, was "the legacy Oguener Tissot was working towards.

"Every year he grew the program more, every year a new athletes came out of the program who found their way towards our sport and opened up opportunities not only by competing in rowing events, but also getting the chance of scholarships for schools and universities."

One of Tissot's first athletes from the group, Piedro Tuchtenhagen, went on to race three times at the U23 World Championships for Brazil, and hopes to make the senior team for the LA2028 Olympics. Tuchtenhagen recently moved back to Pelatos to help the rowing club survive in the wake of the tragedy.

You can visit the GoFundMe site, which includes information about the victims and a short video, at the link below to learn more or to make a donation.

GoFundMe - Celebrate Oguener's Life, Help Needed.