{"id":154273,"date":"2025-08-17T23:26:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T23:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/154273\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T23:26:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T23:26:09","slug":"neighbors-rally-to-support-nocatee-family-after-3-year-old-drowns-in-retention-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/154273\/","title":{"rendered":"Neighbors rally to support Nocatee family after 3-year-old drowns in retention pond"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Days after a 3-year-old drowned in a retention pond in St. Johns County, his neighbors are rallying around his family, creating a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-for-the-patzwald-familys-loss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-for-the-patzwald-familys-loss\">GoFundMe<\/a> to raise funds to support them as they \u201ctake time away from work to grieve, heal, and support one another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Jack Patzwald\u2019s family gave permission to share the information on the GoFundMe page, which has raised more than $16,000 in less than 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">According to St. Johns County Fire Rescue, first responders were called to Crystal Sands Court in Nocatee around 7:15 p.m. Friday and found a child who had been pulled from a retention pond in cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n<p>3-year-old drowns in a retention pond in St. Johns County (WJXT)<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The 3-year-old was taken to a hospital, where he died. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Fire Rescue says the Sheriff\u2019s Office is now investigating what led up to the drowning. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">In the meantime, Jack\u2019s neighbors are embracing his family amid their sudden and tragic loss.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cJack was a joyful, curious, and deeply loved little boy whose presence brought light to everyone who knew him. His smile, laughter, and energy touched the hearts of so many in his short time here,\u201d wrote Jacqueline Willis, the neighbor who organized the GoFundMe page. &#8220;I\u2019ve seen the love and care (the Patzwald family) poured into Jack\u2019s life. Now, they are navigating the unimaginable pain of losing their son.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Willis encouraged others to share the page to help spread the word and support the Patzwalds. Willis said all donations will go directly to the family \u201cto help cover lost income and allow them the space and time they need to begin processing this devastating loss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cYour support\u2014whether through a contribution, kind message, or simply holding this family in your thoughts\u2014means more than words can express,\u201c Willis wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Days after a 3-year-old drowned in a retention pond in St. Johns County, his neighbors are rallying around&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":154274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,14638,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-154273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-st-johns-county","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115046697411694937","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}