PEACH STAND MURDER: Mother continues daughter's legacy for compassion after death

FORT MILL, S.C. — A Charlotte mother and a team of volunteers are now in Africa to carry out her daughter's legacy.

Debbie Whitesell took a group of 13 people on a mission trip to Swaziland, Africa nearly six months after her 19-year-old daughter Karson Whitesell was shot to death in January while working at The Peach Stand in Fort Mill.

“This trip was kind of born the night Karson died,” Whitesell said. “I had to go meet these people that had stolen my daughter's heart. She's still my purpose.

The team is spending the week building shade structures and a community facility with a computer room.

The Peach Stand is an icon in the York County city.

“I can't let people forget her and I have to make sure love and light overcome the evil that took her from this world," Whitesell said.

Karson’s mother is dedicating her life helping the people her daughter loved the most. She launched a nonprofit organization five months ago called Karson’s Kompassion Project. People have donated more than $46,000 to the organization since its inception.

Family, friends, community say final goodbyes to slain Peach Stand

"It's only been five months. It's a really long road ahead without her, but I also know the almost 20 years I had with her was an amazing gift,” Whitesell said. “I am honored to be her mother."

The team traveling to Swaziland includes people from the community, Karson’s boyfriend and four girls from different parts of the country whom Karson knew from a mission trip she took to Swaziland last year.

The group will spend the week building shade structures for the people of Swaziland, converting a community center to a computer lab for after-school learning and building a new playground for the children Karson knew and loved.

“The GoFundMe was set up to raise money for 19 shade structures -- one for each year of Karson’s life. But I also want to be a good steward of the money. I don’t want to build 19 structures if 19 structures is not what the country needed,” she said.

Whitesell said one of the highlights of the trip will be having what is known as Big Fun Day with a group of children there. They will be fed a meal that includes meats and other things that they rarely are able to eat due to expense.

Whitesell said her mission is to keep the love and “Kompassion” that Karson displayed through her life.

“She would love all the people being helped from the result of it because that was really the core of Karson helping others,” Whitesell said.

The team plans on taking a number of items to Swaziland including laptop computers for the computer lab.

Christopher Mendez, 28, was charged with Karson's murder.

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