Juanita's Partner, Mercedes died. Please help. ❤

Hey Y'all, I'm Tarita and this is my 1st GoFundMe, so please pardon my learning curve. One of my dearest friends and chosen family Juanita Oliver's wife of over 20 years died unexpectedly of a heart attack in Malaysia. Mercedes was like a sister-in-law to me and this news comes on the back of 6 other family and friends of mine that have died this year. What makes the situation with Mercedes even worse is she died outside of the country.

That means Juanita has to go to Malaysia claim to claim the body and proceed with all the tasks a widow is charged with in these circumstances. It broke my heart even further when Juanita said to me...I don't know how to be a widow. I don't know how to support a widow but I know between the two of us we have an enormous and loving community. I wish I could just go pick up Juanita and whisk us off to Malaysia to handle everything but I can't. Those who know me, know I am buried in grief myself this year and barely making it through. But Juanita and I have been friends since 2007 and know how to lean on each other and make it through. We did it when our dear friend Chef Yulanda died and when her sister died and when my grandmother died. So we will do it again.

But we could use some help. Asking for help is not easy for me. I was raised with resources and pride and as a result am very independent. But with all the loss this year I've hit a wall and am depleted. My preachers and teachers tell me when you can't it opens up space for God and others to step in.

Would you step in and help us?

Your donation to this GoFundMe will initially cover travel to and from Malaysia, lodging while we're there, Uber back and forth to care for the business of life transition. Cremation. Malaysian Water Memorial. Memorial in U.S. Neither Juanita, nor myself have had to do this before, so we don't know what we don't know. But we're extremely open to your shared knowledge or personal experiences.

Please reach out with questions, concerns, suggestions and condolences.

Thank you in advance for your love, insight and generosity.