BUTLER TWP — Two local families who have recently dealt with loss have donated $40,000 in scholarships to the Butler Senior High School seniors this year.

The Linnon family donated $1,000 scholarships to 20 students in honor of Ethan Linnon, a senior at Butler who passed away in a car accident in Oct. 2015. Ethan was 18 years old when his Toyota coupe hit a tree on Meridian Road in Penn Township.

The Linnon family gave away the scholarships based on an essay students wrote about how they could honor Ethan’s memory by living in an active and positive way, according to Ethan’s father, Brion.

The Lovich family, having lost 4-year-old Colbee Regis Lovich, donated $4,000 to five seniors this year, according to Colbee’s mother, Kelli Jo Lovich.

The money was donated in honor of Colbee, who passed away at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh after an ATV accident in Sept. 2014. The family raised the money during a benefit in Sept. 2015, Kelli Jo said, raising around $30,000.

In addition to the scholarships, the family donated $5,000 to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh.

Colbee was in his second year of preschool at St. Mary’s Preschool when he passed away, so the family also paid the tuition for another 4-year-old to attend the preschool in 2015-2016.