COEUR d'ALENE - Sports brought the families of Devon Austin and Ryan Reinhardt together, long before the families were brought together by tragedy.

Through the years, the parents supported their sons' teams. The moms could usually be found in the Coeur d'Alene High School concession stand, working during games.

Now, nearly a year since a car crash claimed the lives of 2010 CHS graduates Devon and Ryan, Viking athletics is again at the center of the families' interactions, and has become part of their healing process.

Ryan's mother, Laura Wilson, and Devon's mom, Paula Austin, are working with other family members, Viking parents and boosters on a campaign to raise funds to build a multi-sports field house on the Coeur d'Alene High School campus. Once completed, the field house will include a memorial to the women's sons, who were both Viking varsity athletes.

"At first, other people wanted to do this for us," Austin said.

The mothers are grateful for that, she said, but now they need to do this themselves. They need to do it for their sons, and for all CHS athletes.

"That's what the boys would have wanted, not something just for themselves, but for everyone," Austin said.

The families held an Aug. 13 fundraising event, a live and silent auction at Caddyshack pub in Coeur d'Alene, and raised $31,000 for the field house.

"Overwhelmed," said Laura Wilson, about how she felt that day as people offered their support.

The mothers are thrilled with the amount raised, Austin said, but it's more than the money that has touched their hearts.

"We wanted to see the people show up," she said.

The moms didn't expect to see the mass of community members that did turn out. They estimate that during the four-hour event at least 500 people came and went.

"We had a pay station in the back. You were dodging in and out of people. You couldn't breathe; you couldn't hear," Wilson said.

For Austin and Wilson and the rest of Devon and Ryan's friends and families, that was a wonderful thing.

Lori Kaye Edinger-Gaboury, cousin of Paula Austin, said the field house project has received support from all over Coeur d'Alene.

"Lake City parents are calling, wanting to help," Edinger-Gaboury said.

With in-kind donations for the electrical work, the excavation and from building contractor Kris Pereira, the families feel good about bridging the gap to their fundraising goal. The original estimated cost for the facility was $150,000, but the families said their goal is now closer to $80,000.

"I feel blessed to live in Coeur d'Alene, where you see how supportive people really are, people who don't even know you, just caring people who want to be a part of it," Austin said.

It's often hard for people to approach parents who have lost their kids, Wilson said.

Austin said she thinks the field house project is good for those people, too.

They want to do something, and they know words aren't going to help, she said.

"It's truly a community project," Wilson said.

Support keeps coming in.

Capone's Pub and Grill in Coeur d'Alene will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a party with raffles and door prizes on Oct. 7. They will be donating a portion of their proceeds to the field house project.

Information: http://www.plrcd.org/viking_field_house/