Friends of the Goodine family are planning two benefit fund-raisers on June 30 to help the family of the soldier killed June 7 in Afghanistan.

Ed Brooks and Doug Stone are planning a tribute and fund-raiser for the family of Pfc. Brandon D. Goodine at two locations in Jackson. Events will include donations, raffles and live music.

“We’ll do whatever we can do to help his family,” said Brooks. “That boy was my son’s best friend.”

All the money raised will go to the family, to help pay bills, as military death benefits won’t pay out for several months, Stone said. Brooks said the family members took off from work for almost two weeks between getting the word of Goodine’s death June 7 and the funeral, June 18.

Haisten Funeral Home in McDonough was in charge of arrangements, and emphasized that there are no funeral expenses for the family.

“What the military doesn’t pay, we right off,” a funeral home spokesman said Thursday.

In his obituary. the family asked that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the Fisher House Foundation, 111 Rockville Pike, Suite 420, Rockville, MD 20850-5168 or the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758517, Topeka, KS 66675 in memory of Pfc. Goodine.

“We’re going to give the money to the family,” Brooks said. “It’s snowballing. We have a lot of people who want to help the family. They (the family) can donate it to Fisher House or Wounded Warrior, if they want.”

The events are scheduled to go from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at JB’s Bar & Grill, 125 Truckstop Way, Jackson, behind Love’s truckstop off Georgia Highway 36 and Interstate 75, exit 201. From 1 p.m. to 11 p.m., the tribute and fund-raiser continues at Kickstand Bar & Grill, 4976 High Falls Road, in Jackson near High Falls State Park.

Stone said entertainers are still needed to volunteer to perform.

“We have a 48-foot flatbed donated for the bands to play on at Kickstand,” Brooks said.

For more information people can call Ed Brooks at 404-583-8750 or Doug Stone at 404-569-6801.

According to the Department of Defense, Army Pfc. Brandon D. Goodine, 20, of Luthersville and McDonough, died June 7, in Maiwand, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, out of Fort Bragg, N.C.

Funeral services were this past Monday, June 18, from Bethany Baptist Church in McDonough. Goodine had lived in Luthersville before moving to McDonough where he was a Navy JROTC cadet at Henry County High School, graduating in in 2010.

According to the 82nd Airborne Division, the paratrooper’s service and death in service earned him the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star, the Global War on Terror Service Medal, the NATO Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Parachutist Badge.

Survivors include his wife, Nicole Goodine, of Fayetteville, N.C.; daughter, Katy Goodine, of Sharpsburg,; mother, Mandy A. (Joey McIntosh) Watson, of McDonough; father, Dwayne (Angela) Goodine, of Hogansville; siblings, Jennifer Lee, Christopher Goodine, Hailey Brooke McLaughlin and Destinee Nicole Watson.