SAN ANTONIO — The community is planning to come together to help cover the funeral costs of fallen Bexar County Sheriff's Deputy Noah Calderon as well as the medical expenses of his brother.
A Facebook page for the "Calderon Family Funeral & Medical Expenses BBQ Fundraiser" says the event will be first-come, first-serve. The fundraiser will take place at R&J Music Pavillion Saturday, August 22 from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.
To maintain social distancing, event organizers are asking attendees to stay in their vehicles. Organizers say a donation box will be on-site for cash donations, and they will accept cash app and PayPal donations.
Calderon, his fiancee, and younger brother were heading to Corpus Christi when they were involved with a crash with an 18-wheeler. Calderon and his fiancee died at the scene, sources said, while Calderon's younger brother was taken to University Hospital via AirLife with critical injuries.
Calderon was 18 years old when he was hired by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office in 2018 as part of the agency's Blue Shirt program, making history as the agency's youngest hire in recent years.
Diana Rangel, who recently retired from Harlandale ISD, was Calderon's counselor at McCollum High School. She Calderon was on the fast track, graduating in just 3 years. He would often come back to try to inspire other students.
"Noah was a wonderful student. He was intelligent, hard-working and goal-oriented," she said. "Since graduation, Noah would come on campus to speak with our students taking criminal justice classes. When doing so, Noah would always come to see me. I last saw Noah right before Spring break. He told me that he had to run because he didn’t want to be late to work."