According to the actor’s brother, the Fast & Furious franchise cast promptly mobilised following Paul Walker’s death in 2013.
In this week’s edition of PEOPLE, Cody Walker says, “Vin [Diesel], Tyrese [Gibson], Ludacris, Michelle [Rodriguez], Sung Kang… [have] all been so supportive of the family” in the years since Paul was died in a vehicle accident in Los Angeles.
“They were all at my mom’s [Cheryl Walker] house immediately following the accident for a couple of days,” Cody said. “They all flew in from Atlanta or wherever they were, and it really meant a lot.”
Paul first appeared in The Fast and the Furious in 2001, kicking off an 11-film action franchise. Before his death, Paul appeared in six of the films.
Cody claims that during the last decade, the actors “all helped honour Paul and supported his charity, Reach Out WorldWide.”
Following the devastation of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Paul formed the NGO Reach Out WorldWide (ROWW) to assist in deploying first responders to disaster locations to support local recovery efforts.
To honour Paul’s generosity, “we’ve done different fundraisers,” says Cody, who has now organised live automobile events called FuelFest, with a portion of sales donated to ROWW. “We’ve done various things. We used to have these Game for Paul events where we would do these big game charity fundraisers. Vin was a part of each and every one of them. Tyrese and Michelle have been together for a long time, as has Sung and Nathalie Emmanuel.
Cody believes that ROWW is a vital part of his brother’s legacy, and it reflects Paul’s desire to do more than just write a cheque.
“He said, ‘No, I want to get in there and help.'” I don’t want to be a part of a huge old public relations campaign or anything like that. I’d like to see Haiti. I want to go there and aid the people. I’d like to see Chile. “I want to go to the Philippines and help,” Cody says to PEOPLE.
He says of his late brother’s costars’ support, “They all truly loved Paul.”
