FOX RIVER GROVE, IL (Oct 23, 2025) Saturday, October 25th marks 30 years since tragedy struck the Fox River Grove community, when a Metra train collided with a school bus stopped at Algonquin Road — killing seven Cary-Grove High School students and injuring more than two dozen others.In honor of the victims, the Fox River Grove Fire Department is once again turning heartbreak into hope with its annual “Seven Angels Blood Drive.”
Saturday, October 25 | 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Fox River Grove Fire Station, 411 Algonquin Rd.
Appointments recommended — walk-ins welcome.
The Fox River Grove Fire Department, together with Vitalant, will host the blood drive at the fire station — just steps from where the tragedy occurred in 1995.
For those who lived through that morning, the memories remain vivid. A substitute bus driver unfamiliar with the route stopped at a red light on Algonquin Road, unaware the back of the bus extended over the nearby railroad tracks. Moments later, the crossing gates came down as a Metra train approached at 60 miles per hour. Among those on the bus that morning was Jason Kedrok, then a sophomore at Cary-Grove High School. He remembers seeing the train speeding toward the bus and hearing the horn and then, nothing.
“The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital,” said Kedrok. Thirty years later, Kedrok is now a captain with the Fox River Grove Fire Department, serving alongside some of the same firefighters who responded to the crash that day.
The crash site — now known as Seven Angels Crossing — stands as a lasting symbol of remembrance and resilience for those who lived through the tragedy and those who continue to serve the community today.
Fire Chief Robert Kreher, who served with the department the morning of the crash, still recalls the chaos and heartbreak of that call.
“It’s a reminder that any day, something like this can happen,” Kreher said. “Those students needed blood at the hospital. You never know when someone will need it and giving today can help save someone’s life tomorrow.”
The Seven Angels Blood Drive began as a way to remember the seven students who lost their lives that morning and has grown into an annual act of healing for the entire Fox River Grove community.
Each donation can help save lives, continuing the mission to turn tragedy into hope. To make an appointment to donate, click here.