These Beaufort Co. businesses are donating portion of sales to honor slain Bluffton teen
Dozens of Beaufort County businesses have joined a fundraising effort for a memorial and scholarship fund dedicated to Dwon “D.J.”. Fields Jr., a Bluffton high school student killed on March 5.
On Wednesday, a number of Bluffton businesses, including Corner Perk and Local Pie Bluffton, will donate 10% of the day’s proceeds to the fund, according to a full list of businesses on the DJ’s Day of Giving website.
Over 40 businesses are involved in the effort, and the money will go to “The Dwon Fields, Jr. Memorial Fund,” according to Tim Wood, organizer and former Bluffton Today editor/columnist.
The fund is allocated to cover family expenses and future scholarships for Lowcountry students interested in trade school, he said.
Dwon Fields, D.J.’s father, said his son had committed to go to Greenville Technical College for its welding program. His college decision was made the night before he was killed.
“We wanted to do something in his name, to remember him for always helping people,” said Fields, in a phone interview on Tuesday. “That’s the kind of person he was.”
Prosecutors said in court that Fields’ death was the result of mistaken identity, as The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette has reported. Two 18-year-olds charged in the killing directed shooters to the “wrong car” near Bluffton and Hampton Parkways, they said.
In total, four people face criminal charges. Two Jasper County men were charged with murder. On Friday, preliminary hearings are scheduled at the Beaufort County Detention Center for three people involved. The hearings are to establish whether police had enough probable cause to charge them.
Right now, the Fields family is focusing on the Wednesday fundraiser.
“We’re going to be out and about,” Dwon Fields said. “I would like to say thank you to these business owners. ... Thank you for helping us help other people.”
A separate fund has been set up in memory of Fields that is exclusively a scholarship fund and not part of the “Day of Giving.” Its goal is also to offer trade school scholarships and was organized by Fields’ former employer, Jake Higgins.
Higgins, the owner of Kilwins shop in Bluffton, said that 100% of the shop’s proceeds on Wednesday will go to that fund.
The Bluffton community, and particularly classmates and coaches, were horrified by the killing of DJ Fields, a football player who was known as a “gentle giant.” He was supposed to graduate this spring.
He had recently taken classes to learn how to be a firefighter and EMT, his father said. His son loved football but had a lot of other interests.
May 5 will mark two months since the shooting.
Dwon Fields said he has recently returned to work as a coach and counselor at Bluffton Middle School, and that has helped him cope. But a big chunk of his heart is missing.
“Never in a million years do you imagine something like this,” he said. “A kid that has every spitting image of you, even down to the walk. ... It hurts like hell.”
