EAST LANSING - A fundraiser organized by friends for the unexpected passing of Ezio Clifton-Johnson touches the hearts of dodgeball lovers all across Mid-Michigan.

Dodgeball was a cornerstone in the Clifton-Johnson household, it’s how Ezio’s parents Omi and J’Mel met and he soon came to the love game too. “He loved dodgeball even just seeing it from one day, which is so awesome, I don’t know it’s just a lot of love and I’m happy that we have friends that actually put something on like this for us,” says Omi Clifton, Ezio’s mother.

Three-year-old Ezio passed away unexpectedly leaving everyone who knew him in shock and disbelief. “Dodgin’ for Ezie” a charity dodgeball event drew tremendous support with dodgeball teams coming from all over Michigan and even Ohio to support the family and help raise money for the funeral costs.

“We’ve know him (J’Mel Johnson, Ezio’s Dad) for a few years and we instantly thought what can we do to help and immediately the first thing we thought of was we met him at dodgeball, we met Brittany (Omi) at dodgeball why not throw them a dodgeball tournament and all of a sudden everyone just showed so much support for the idea,” says Rebecca Shappell, Fundraiser Coordinator.

Omi and J’Mel played on the Michigan State University Dodgeball Team along with Shappell. Rival teams like Central Michigan University and Grand Valley University set aside the competitive mindset and joined in on the cause. “I have a buddy from Central, Jacob who told our team all about this, we knew the people who it’s benefitting and so we figured we should get involved,” says Shane Willet, Central Michigan University Dodgeball Team Captain.

The turnout overwhelmed all involved but especially the fundraiser organizers. “It’s incredible and it just shows how much he touched everybody aside from just direct family and to know that everybody is supporting us and being there for us means a lot,” says Ezio’s Father J’Mel Johnson.

“We did not honestly expect to get ten teams yet alone eleven, twelve, it’s absolutely amazing. To have all of there people out here right now to support it,” says Shappell. The fundraiser and GoFundMe page were organized without the knowledge or asking of J’Mel and Omi.

“We didn’t know, everything was a big surprise to us. We were worried about everything, the arrangements and everything for the service and they decided to put together the GoFundMe account. We definitely want to say thank you to all of them it was a blessing. We didn’t even ask for anything from anybody but businesses donated prizes for a raffle for the dodgeball tournament. I seen a signed football that Coach D (Mark Dantonio) signed and I was like ‘wow this is crazy.’ Thank you for everything, this is just out of everyone’s kindness of their heart. It’s just a beautiful thing,” says Clifton.

If you want to help support the Clifton-Johnson family you can find their GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/fundsforezzy.