Honoring Michael Roberts: Support His Legacy

Michael Eugene Roberts was a constant for a lot of people in New Orleans. He was a face we all saw every day when we came into Downtown Fitness at the New Orleans Healing Center. A little gruff on the exterior, those of us in the know knew he was a kind soul that was willing to help whomever he could. A proud veteran of the Air Force, a devout man of his Catholic faith, and an encyclopedic knowledge of fitness, Mike was a source of inspiration for many people in many walks of life.

On July 24, 2024, Michael Roberts passed on from our lives. This news hit our community quite hard, as we could set our own lives to the habits this man kept of his own. A constant rock in our community, Michael will be forever missed.

We, the trainers of Downtown Fitness at the Healing Center, have set up this GoFundMe in order to help with funerary expenses. We want to give Mike a proper send-off, since he was family to us as we hope we were to him. At this current time, we are unaware of any next of blood kin for him. He never spoke much of his own family, so we have taken it upon ourselves to give this man his proper rites and honors.

Currently, we are working to gather more information about his veteran’s status to see if we can have him interred in one of the soldier fields here in Louisiana. In addition to any rights and benefits due to him from his time in service.

Proceeds from this will go to help cover his funerary expenses, as well as to help set up the celebration of life that we are planning for him for the public to come attend. Any funds that are left over from the expenses will be donated to the Til Valhalla Project. This is an organization Mike was passionate about prior to his passing. Til Valhalla Project is an organization that helps to honor veterans who lost their lives as well as support for veterans suffering as they reintegrate into life post-combat.

At this time, this is the information that we have for Michael. As we work with the New Orleans Coroner’s office and the Veterans Affairs office, we will update this to let everyone involved know what the situation is. We will also post the location, date, and time for his Celebration of Life once we have these things finalized.

Thank you in advance for having Michael in your thoughts.