Arika's Final Goodbye
Donation protected
With a broken heart, I’m humbly asking for your support to send Arika Samantha Trim home to her native Tobago for her final rest, and help her parents transition as full-time caregivers for her son.
On Tuesday, June 23, 2020, Arika died suddenly just one week after giving birth by emergency c-section to a baby boy at 30.5 weeks. He is doing well and in NICU for the foreseeable future. Sadly, we know this is a crisis in America that is not affected by education or income. According to the CDC, Black women are three to four times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death than white women. Black women are more likely to experience preventable maternal death compared with white women. Tragically, this crisis has now affected those of us who loved Arika.
Arika was a dedicated public servant, who served honorably in the Obama Administration, both in the Office of First Lady Michelle Obama and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She then went on the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Labor, and at the time of her death, was serving at the American Hospital Association, communicating the critical needs of the nation's hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. She cared deeply about school nutrition and ensuring that every person has access to affordable healthcare.
Arika was a 2008 graduate of Oxon Hill High School in Maryland and a 2012 graduate of Lee University in Tennessee. She was just 29 years old.
Arika - or Sam, as her family calls her - was incredibly dear to all who loved her. She was brilliant, beautiful, incredibly kind, funny, and was so excited about becoming a mother. She LOVED to travel. She had impeccable style. She adored her large family and all of her friends, and, of course, her native Tobago.
With the blessing of her mother, this GoFundMe is set up to assist the family with all of the unexpected costs they will incur as they prepare to celebrate her life and carry her across seas to lay her to rest. Every dollar raised will go directly to Arika's mother and family.
Thank you for your kindness and generosity, and please keep Arika, her son, her entire family and everyone who loved her lifted in your prayers.
On Tuesday, June 23, 2020, Arika died suddenly just one week after giving birth by emergency c-section to a baby boy at 30.5 weeks. He is doing well and in NICU for the foreseeable future. Sadly, we know this is a crisis in America that is not affected by education or income. According to the CDC, Black women are three to four times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death than white women. Black women are more likely to experience preventable maternal death compared with white women. Tragically, this crisis has now affected those of us who loved Arika.
Arika was a dedicated public servant, who served honorably in the Obama Administration, both in the Office of First Lady Michelle Obama and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She then went on the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Labor, and at the time of her death, was serving at the American Hospital Association, communicating the critical needs of the nation's hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. She cared deeply about school nutrition and ensuring that every person has access to affordable healthcare.
Arika was a 2008 graduate of Oxon Hill High School in Maryland and a 2012 graduate of Lee University in Tennessee. She was just 29 years old.
Arika - or Sam, as her family calls her - was incredibly dear to all who loved her. She was brilliant, beautiful, incredibly kind, funny, and was so excited about becoming a mother. She LOVED to travel. She had impeccable style. She adored her large family and all of her friends, and, of course, her native Tobago.
With the blessing of her mother, this GoFundMe is set up to assist the family with all of the unexpected costs they will incur as they prepare to celebrate her life and carry her across seas to lay her to rest. Every dollar raised will go directly to Arika's mother and family.
Thank you for your kindness and generosity, and please keep Arika, her son, her entire family and everyone who loved her lifted in your prayers.
Organizer and beneficiary
Kiara Pesante Haughton
Organizer
Washington D.C., DC
Donna Trim-Stewart
Beneficiary