A singer who thrilled audiences with her vocal artistry deserves a proper send-off.

So soon after Kansas City blues icon Annetta "Cotton Candy" Washington died on Christmas morning of complications from a stroke, a call for help went out, a call that recently was answered.

Despite having lost a leg to diabetes, Washington enjoyed performing, especially when the cause supported other local jazz and blues musicians. In fact, she literally died helping people. The 76-year-old singer suffered a stroke Dec. 15 while performing at a breast-cancer benefit in Westport .

Like many older musicians, when she died she didn't have much money stashed away.

That's why the Coda Jazz Fund, which I persuaded The Kansas City Star to establish in 2002, decided to pay the cost of her funeral and burial. The Coda Jazz Fund was founded to provide financial assistance to the families of local jazz musicians who can't afford to pay funeral costs.

No one knows quite what that generosity means more than Arlene Buford, Washington 's second cousin. At first, Buford wasn't sure how she was going to pay for Washington 's funeral.

"I would like to say thank you," Buford said last week. "I really, truly appreciate that Coda stepped forward to help me. I was kind of in this by myself. You are a blessing."

The support for "Cotton Candy" is just one of numerous acts of benevolence the fund has been engaged in recently. During Christmas the past few years, the Coda Jazz Fund has distributed baskets to sick and shut-in musicians. This year was no exception.

Pam Hider Johnson, program director for the Elder Statesmen of Kansas City Jazz , identified the musicians who needed baskets the most. Then Celeste Rogers Reed, events and promotions manager for The Star and a volunteer with Coda , put together the 20 baskets. Each contained socks, deodorant, hand towels, body gels, candles, a jazz CD, books and other items.

"We're just letting the musicians know they're being thought of," Rogers Reed said. "It's not so much about what the baskets contain. It's the fact that they, the musicians, know we're thinking of them." Coda Jazz Fund volunteers such as Joe Spease, president of Pristine Power, a Lenexa alternative energy business; Gerald Dunn, the music coordinator for the American Jazz Museum; and Sam Johnson Jr., a local drummer, did their part by delivering the baskets.

When Spease made his rounds on Dec. 23, he took along his 14-year-old son. "It's the most rewarding thing to ever do," Spease said. "You just wish you could do even more for them." Jazz singer Pearl Thuston Brown, 80, is widowed, and her only son is deceased.

"Receiving the Christmas basket overwhelmed me," she said. "To know that there were people thinking of me floored me. It welled me up in my heart. It brought tears to my eyes."

The same sentiment was expressed by Monroe Nash, a local trombone player, who at 71 needs a hip replacement and has been bedridden since last February. The Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors helped by purchasing his prescriptions, which totaled $473. He also received a holiday gift basket. "I love Coda ," Nash said. "I was so surprised when I got it, I didn't know what to do. I'm down, but I'm not going to give up."

There was a time when jazz musicians here may not have known how the public felt about them. But that sentiment has changed, and Coda has had a big role in that. Cotton Candy isn't the first person the fund has helped. And she won't be the last. Not every family will need the fund. Nor will every family qualify. But with the continued help of the public, when the families of jazz musicians do need it, it's nice to know the fund will be there for them.