GIRARD — Accidents around machinery are common, but that does not make them any less devastating when they occur.

A few weeks ago, one such accident took the leg of Girard business owner Jason Diskin from above the knee. Diskin, who remains in the hospital, is also a commercial property owner and rents to good friend Nick Kirby.

Kirby owns Outta Line Designs, a t-shirt business in Girard. When he found out that his friend had been hurt he and his wife sprang into action to help.

“We work side by side every day, this man is like a brother to me,” Kirby said “I looked at my wife and told her something has to be done.”

That something ended up being fundraising efforts which have already brought in more than $30,000. Kirby said he started with creating a t-shirt to bring up Diskin’s spirits when he visited him in the hospital, and it grew quickly from there.

“Before we knew it we had hundreds of people wanting shirts,” Kirby said. The materials were donated by a member of the community, and the work is being done by Kirby at no cost in order to get as much of the funds to his friend as possible. The shirts are $20, and all of the money will go direction to Diskin.

The fundraising efforts will be important to Diskin as he is the sole provider for his family. Kirby said Diskin is one of the hardest working people he had ever met.

“No one deserves help from the community more than Jason,” Kirby said. “He works from the moment he gets up to the second his head hits the pillow.”

Kirby said he is overwhelmed with the local response.

“Jason is a pillar of the community,” he said. “We asked the community for help and they accepted.”

In an effort to provide more help to the Diskin family, Kirby and his friends took their fundraising efforts even further. Diskin was in charge of in the Demolition Derby at the Crawford County Fair before his accident. Hearing about the accident the derby community stepped up and put together a complete derby car to be raffled off at the fair.

“We’re all like brothers and sisters in the derby, so when something like this happens everyone just steps up,” Diskin said.

Diskin said he will have a booth at the fair for his company, and those interested in t-shirts or raffle ticket information for the derby car can pick them up there.

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Derby car being raffled to help local businessman