CARLOCK - When Gavin Pitcher lost several friends in a plane crash four years ago, he offered to help the grieving families with an immediate and overwhelming burden.

Pitcher served as spokesman for the families, answering a flood of questions from reporters about the accident that claimed six lives.

"They didn't want to deal with it, so I stepped up and took over that aspect of it," said Pitcher.

The job is one of the things people in small communities do to help during such a tragedy, said the Carlock resident.

In recent years, several Central Illinois towns have been stunned by similar tragedies. Earlier this week, Gibson City teens Madisyn Moore and Shanna Radakovich died in a house fire.

Pitcher and many others in Carlock, a town of 400, grieved the March 2004 loss of residents Amy and Don Maurer Jr., Amy's brother, Brad Webb, and his girlfriend, Erica Edgington.

Curt and Linda Piercy, both of Normal, also were killed in

the plane crash in Harlan County, Ky.

Four months later, a West Virginia plane crash claimed the lives of four people from Bloomington, Normal and Lincoln. A fifth victim was from Indiana.

An extended hand of friendship is second nature in small towns but, with tragedy, come two hands, said Pitcher. What small towns lack in social service agencies, they make up for in generosity.

"We've got a residential family of over 400. When somebody needs something, word gets around and we try to help each other out," he said.

In tiny Hallsville in DeWitt County, two families have dealt with the aftermath of murder involving pregnant women in the past two years.

Last month, Michael Zogg answered the door of his Hallsville home to news that his 19-year-old daughter, Jodi McGrew, had been killed in a home in LeRoy.

The pregnant teen was

allegedly murdered by her brother-in-law, Jason Marksteiner, who faces three counts of murder, three counts of intentional homicide of an unborn child and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault.

Down the street from the Zogg home, a memorial marks the home where Katie Griffieth and her 8-year-old son Kendall were fatally stabbed July 11, 2006.

Arthur Thomas Massey is serving life in prison for the murders.

For the siblings who survived the Hallsville deaths, Clinton school counselors provided support.

The district has seen its share of experiences with death involving children, starting with the drowning deaths of three children in Clinton Lake days after the start of the 2003 school year.

Amanda Hamm, the children's mother, served five years for child endangerment and her former boyfriend, Maurice LaGrone, is serving life for murder.

Each situation requires its own response, said Linda Ruhl, principal of Douglas Elementary School, where two of the Hamm children were students.

"Every one is different and creates different needs," said Ruhl, who helped set up counseling for students and staff after the drownings.

Four years later, in 2007, three generations of a Normal family accidentally drowned at the lake.

Clinton school counselors have developed a resource guide for parents dealing with death, said Ruhl.

Meanwhile, small communities pull together to help families meet basic needs, said the Rev. Paul de Jong, pastor of LeRoy's First United Presbyterian Church.

"I've seen help with financial needs, meals, cards, signs in the windows of businesses and an outpouring of support through prayers. When that happens, it props up the whole community," said de Jong.