Helen's Final Celebration of Life
Donation protected
Greetings everyone! I find myself in the need to appeal to you to help my family celebrate a very beloved woman in her final day on this beautiful planet. I will post more pictures if I can after completing this part - I just wasn't prepared as I have never did this before. But if and where I can I will make myself accessible to whoever needs proof that what I am posting is credible. Anyone and everyone will be welcomes at my aunt's services when the time comes.
I am working on writing my Aunt Helen's story, something worthy of such a good woman and a very private person. Please bear with me. This is the first time I embark on this fundraising activity. We usually hold car washes - but I am getting a bit old and the cold is not helping... I have seen how this works through the kindness of strangers on the news and am hoping a small miracle happens and we won't need your assitance, but I am a realist and a straight shooter, and doubt a small miracle is in the works, but I do have faith that is the miracle we are hoping and praying for isn't granted... God, Karma, destiny, whatever you believe in, will grant our family another lil miracle... you.
Helen Chagolla is her final days on this beautiful Earth and will soon join her loved ones that have long since departed, her Mother, her son, her great grandchild. She was diagnosed with Cancer (hate hate hate that word! I am sure you all do as well) last fall and the disease has basically taken over her body and is not expected to survive for much longer! She was just discharged from White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights yesterday and sent to a Hospice, but she will be taken home to spend her final days with her family today.
Her family would like to have her buried with her son Felix when the inevitable happens - which will not be very long. To have her buried with her son, who was tragically lost just 15 days before her 56th birthday in 2000, and a few feet away from her own Mother, it will cost approximately $10,000 paid to the cemetery alone. The additional $15,000 is to cover the mortuary services to ensure she has a decent service worthy of such a good woman, which otherwise, her family would not be able to afford. Our family belongs to the working class and if my siblings and I had the money, we would gladly pitch in as we always have in times of need for our family. Unfortunately, as it is with everyone else these days, we simply just don't have enough to cover my aunt's expenses. She isn't our aunt by blood, she married my uncle (dad's cousin) and we love our uncle - he's always been a good uncle to us - but if we had to choose - we'd choose Helen over our uncle any day of the week and twice on Sunday! :D Sorry tio! But I think this is a great testament to the wonderful woman she has been to everyone in the family. I won't even get started on how much my old working class neighborhood loves her for being a wonderful Campus Aide in the local elementary school.
Helen was born right here in Los Angeles on April 15, 1944. She attended Ann Elementary School in our very own Chinatown, she then attended Stevenson Jr. HS in Boyle Heights, and became a Rough Rider at Roosevelt HS, Class of 1962 - if I remember correctly. She married my uncle Felix, an immigrant from Mexico, and had two kids, Felix, Jr. in 1972 and Carmelita in 1978/9, respectively. Ahead of her time or circumstances of biology, she started her having children at age 28 when her contemporaries were having them at least 10 years earlier or even sooner! She lost her son very tragically in 2000, but he left behind two beautiful lil girls that helped her cope with that loss. In 2008/9 she lost a great grandchild. Needless to say she has had a difficult life - but to each tragedy or hardship, Helen remained stoic, dignified, faithful, and a lady. We could all learn from Helen how to face difficulty with dignity. Her daughter had three young kids of her own and my uncle is disabled. It will be difficult to raise the money needed to hold Helen's services on their own. You're probably wondering how can I ask to help celebrate her life when it was had some tragedy, well, I ask that you help clebrate her, not her life, because she and every good, strong, and loving woman deserves to be celebrated, in life and death.
I am a really good writer but am having great difficulty conveying my feelings for this awesome individual into words. I cannot do her almost 71 years justice. She was no saint, but she comes really close to it. Help me help show my baby girl she won't be alone on this journey of life that from time to time... will take us through the shadows of death... and ultimately - guide us into the light of hope.
Thank you, wishing you all peace, love, health, and prosperity,
Yesenia Mendoza
Los Angeles, CA
I am working on writing my Aunt Helen's story, something worthy of such a good woman and a very private person. Please bear with me. This is the first time I embark on this fundraising activity. We usually hold car washes - but I am getting a bit old and the cold is not helping... I have seen how this works through the kindness of strangers on the news and am hoping a small miracle happens and we won't need your assitance, but I am a realist and a straight shooter, and doubt a small miracle is in the works, but I do have faith that is the miracle we are hoping and praying for isn't granted... God, Karma, destiny, whatever you believe in, will grant our family another lil miracle... you.
Helen Chagolla is her final days on this beautiful Earth and will soon join her loved ones that have long since departed, her Mother, her son, her great grandchild. She was diagnosed with Cancer (hate hate hate that word! I am sure you all do as well) last fall and the disease has basically taken over her body and is not expected to survive for much longer! She was just discharged from White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights yesterday and sent to a Hospice, but she will be taken home to spend her final days with her family today.
Her family would like to have her buried with her son Felix when the inevitable happens - which will not be very long. To have her buried with her son, who was tragically lost just 15 days before her 56th birthday in 2000, and a few feet away from her own Mother, it will cost approximately $10,000 paid to the cemetery alone. The additional $15,000 is to cover the mortuary services to ensure she has a decent service worthy of such a good woman, which otherwise, her family would not be able to afford. Our family belongs to the working class and if my siblings and I had the money, we would gladly pitch in as we always have in times of need for our family. Unfortunately, as it is with everyone else these days, we simply just don't have enough to cover my aunt's expenses. She isn't our aunt by blood, she married my uncle (dad's cousin) and we love our uncle - he's always been a good uncle to us - but if we had to choose - we'd choose Helen over our uncle any day of the week and twice on Sunday! :D Sorry tio! But I think this is a great testament to the wonderful woman she has been to everyone in the family. I won't even get started on how much my old working class neighborhood loves her for being a wonderful Campus Aide in the local elementary school.
Helen was born right here in Los Angeles on April 15, 1944. She attended Ann Elementary School in our very own Chinatown, she then attended Stevenson Jr. HS in Boyle Heights, and became a Rough Rider at Roosevelt HS, Class of 1962 - if I remember correctly. She married my uncle Felix, an immigrant from Mexico, and had two kids, Felix, Jr. in 1972 and Carmelita in 1978/9, respectively. Ahead of her time or circumstances of biology, she started her having children at age 28 when her contemporaries were having them at least 10 years earlier or even sooner! She lost her son very tragically in 2000, but he left behind two beautiful lil girls that helped her cope with that loss. In 2008/9 she lost a great grandchild. Needless to say she has had a difficult life - but to each tragedy or hardship, Helen remained stoic, dignified, faithful, and a lady. We could all learn from Helen how to face difficulty with dignity. Her daughter had three young kids of her own and my uncle is disabled. It will be difficult to raise the money needed to hold Helen's services on their own. You're probably wondering how can I ask to help celebrate her life when it was had some tragedy, well, I ask that you help clebrate her, not her life, because she and every good, strong, and loving woman deserves to be celebrated, in life and death.
I am a really good writer but am having great difficulty conveying my feelings for this awesome individual into words. I cannot do her almost 71 years justice. She was no saint, but she comes really close to it. Help me help show my baby girl she won't be alone on this journey of life that from time to time... will take us through the shadows of death... and ultimately - guide us into the light of hope.
Thank you, wishing you all peace, love, health, and prosperity,
Yesenia Mendoza
Los Angeles, CA
Organizer and beneficiary
Yesenia Mendoza-Verduzco
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Carmela Galvan
Beneficiary