LIME SPRINGS - Friends, family and community leaders are raising money for Crystal Leff, the mother and wife who lost her family in an car accident last week.

"She is going to need a lot of support," said Candy Niewoehner, a friend and a business owner. "I've known her girls since they were born. I used to hold them all the time. I can't imagine what she is going through."

Leff lives in Lime Springs and arrived home from work about 5:45 a.m. Feb. 8. She found her family missing.

About two hours later the Howard County Sheriff's Department discovered her husband Carl's truck. The vehicle overturned near a bridge two miles west of Lime Springs on County Road A23.

Carl, 30, and daughter Hannah, 2, were pronounced dead at the scene. Rescuers found Crystal's other daughter 8-month-old Katelin alive, but the infant died hours later at a hospital in Minnesota.

"A lot of people are still in shock," Niewoehner said.

Hundreds of people attended visitation Sunday and funeral Monday in Ostrander, Minn., said Dallas Leff, Carl's uncle. The outpouring of support for Crystal has been helpful, he added.

"I hope everyone knows how much this means to her," Dallas Leff said. "There's been a lot of community support and it's amazing."

Lime Springs Mayor Walter McIntosh met with other community members Saturday to help establish places to collect donations. C US Bank, Jimmy's Bar and Grill and Lime Springs Locker, all in Lime Springs, are collecting contributions.

"When a dad gets buried with his two girls in a casket, that is more than anyone could bear," McIntosh said. "Our hearts go out to Crystal … I don't know how anyone could handle that."

Collection drives are popping up in schools and other places throughout Northeast Iowa as a result of the family's personal tragedy. Riceville High School, for example, placed a bucket for donations in one of its administrative offices.

"When crises like this come up in a small community like this, we know most of the people and want to help out," Principal Rosemary Cameron said.

Dallas Leff said Carl was returning to Lime Springs to retrieve a cell phone he left at a pool tournament when the accident happened. Howard County Sheriff Mark Grinhaug could not confirm that fact, but said Carl was headed toward Lime Springs from his rural home at about 1:45 a.m.

Leff reportedly lost control of his Chevrolet truck and struck a bridge railing. The vehicle went airborne before rolling into a creek.

"Our prayers and thoughts are with mom," Grinhaug said. "I hope everyone keeps her in their prayers."

Autopsy results were not returned as of Wednesday.

Contract Brian Spannagel at (319) 291-1570 or brian.spannagel@wcfcourier.com.

How to help:

Send donations in the name of Carl Leff to C US Bank, P.O. Box 157, Lime Springs, IA 52115.