{"id":99870,"date":"2025-12-30T11:02:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T11:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/99870\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T11:02:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T11:02:43","slug":"woodbine-community-pours-in-support-for-family-of-9-year-old-girl-after-fatal-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/99870\/","title":{"rendered":"Woodbine community pours in support for family of 9-year-old girl after fatal crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

WOODBINE, Ga. \u2013 Dozens of community members gathered to honor the life of 9-year-old Jordyn Butler<\/a>, who was struck and killed by an SUV last week while playing outside with her brother in Woodbine.<\/p>\n

The memorial service, filled with prayer and worship songs, brought together family, friends and community members to remember a child who was described as \u201ca beacon of light\u201d by those who knew her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese last few days have been some of the longest days of our lives,\u201d said Andrie Phillips, Jordyn\u2019s aunt. \u201cJordyn being the baby grand girl of my mom and her father, being the baby girl is hard. But at the same time, we\u2019re gonna trust God in this and definitely lean on him for his strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessica Armstrong, who led Jordyn in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes program at Woodbine Elementary School, remembered her as an exceptional student whose impact extended beyond her years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first encountered Jordyn, I\u2019d just seen this little girl, and she always smiled at me,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cWhen we first met, she always sat directly across from me and I\u2019d seen a beacon of light that I hadn\u2019t often seen in a lot of little children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armstrong added that Jordyn \u201cwas a blessing, not only to her peers around her, but to me specifically. She didn\u2019t even know she was building me up. She was encouraging me because of the light that lived inside of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family expressed gratitude for the community\u2019s support during their time of grief.<\/p>\n

\u201cCamden County, you have shown up, and you have done a marvelous job with support,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cWe appreciate everything that you\u2019ve done. We appreciate how you\u2019ve come together to meet needs in such a time as this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denise Millan, Woodbine Elementary School principal, remembered her as a first-grader with a bright light.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe always had a smile, always gave me a hug. That\u2019s what I\u2019m gonna miss the most. That every day I got a good hug from Jordyn,\u201d Millan said.<\/p>\n

Millian understood the toll Butler\u2019s death would have on her classmate and ensured that the school would have proper resources available for the students. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important that we all come together and try to process this,\u201d She said. \u201cWe need each other. This community is like that. We always come together and support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Georgia State Patrol was investigating the crash that claimed Jordyn\u2019s life. <\/p>\n

A celebration of life service was scheduled for Tuesday at 1 p.m. at Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church of Woodbine. <\/p>\n

A GoFundMe<\/a> campaign established to support the funeral services had raised over $15,000.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WOODBINE, Ga. \u2013 Dozens of community members gathered to honor the life of 9-year-old Jordyn Butler, who was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[21392,1853,116,118,117,22081],"class_list":["post-99870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-camden-county","tag-georgia","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-woodbine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}