Luis Rivera a Beautiful Human Being

This is Luis--a vibrant, young, compassionate, gentle, artistic  person with a beautiful heart and soul. 

Luis abrupltly  passed away March 30th, 2020--he succumbed to complications from COVID-19. His untimely passing has left so many broken hearts behind. You see, Luis was a  son, brother, boyfriend, cousin, nephew and friend to so many people. The pain they are feeling right now must be tremendous. Right away my mind went to his mother. Luis loved his mother. He prided himself on helping her and making sure everything he could do in his power for her—he did. A mother should never have to lose her child. 

Luis worked as an Associate Teacher at Bright Horizons at West 63rd Street (BH63) in Manhattan, New York.  I first met Luis over a year and a half ago. Always a pleasant person to be around, Luis had a laidback energy that immediately grabbed you and pulled you in. The more you learned about him, the more his charisma engulfed you. It’s this energy that made him a beloved teacher, colleague and friend. 
We're asking for donations to help his family through this time. When a young person passes, it hits a family with not only emotional hardships-- which can be impossible to overcome--but finical as well. 

 Grief wears differently on all of us and the most important thing we can do through this is lift the person next to you up. With the current restrictions to gatherings and social distancing, it makes it difficult to grieve as a community. And, at BH63, we grieve as a community. I do have one small ask whether you donate money or not: Luis loved art, he was an incredibly gifted illustrator. If we could all—kids and grown ups alike—create a piece of artwork to honor his memory, it would be a fitting tribute to someone who touched our lives. Digitize your work and send it to us so we can share it with his family. 

And please, send some positive energy to Luis’ family—they need it.