Hello! Some of you may know me, others may know my siblings, and a lot of you possibly do not know us at all outside of this petition.

In the following text I will explain our situation in more detail, but I thought it might be better to quickly summarize the situation for those of you that are like me and enjoy getting to the point:

This past Wednesday, March 19th, my family found itself in a vulnerable and unpredictable situation when my dad unexpectedly passed away, following my mom's passing to cancer by two years.

Since wednesday, my three little siblings and I find ourselves orphaned but surrounded by a lot of love and support which we're eternally grateful for beyond what I can express in just words.

Unfortunately, we also find ourselves in the uncomfortable reality of financial uncertainty and need in these upcoming months. If you or anyone you know could find it in your hearts (and pockets) to donate anything you can (everything helps and adds up) it would really help us in the following months while we find and solidify our footing and begin to rebuild this new chapter of our lives.

If you would like to read further and learn more about our situation I fully invite you to, since I hope to answer any questions or concerns that you may have after reading about our cause! If you wouldn’t, that’s completely fine as well. Whatever the case may be, my family would like to thank all of you for taking the time to listen to our situation and hopefully finding it in your hearts to share this cause, donate, and/or to keep us in your prayers.

This is my family. My name is Maria Jose (I’m the one with the glasses). I’ll be 23 this April, I recently graduated college, and as of last Wednesday (03/19), life upgraded me from older sister to parent of my little siblings. I was previously living and working in Puerto Rico, but have now uprooted my life and moved back home to ensure that my family (semi-pictured above) remains united, stable, and provided for and that my siblings can pursue every opportunity they had when my parents were here, which are my main goals and priorities in life.

My family consists of me, my brother Santi (pictured next to me, who will God willing start college this fall, is a talented football player, may look older than me but will forever be my first baby and most importantly my best friend), Angel (in the red shirt, he’s a genius since birth, talented tennis and viola player, and the future CR7), and Beatriz (who just turned 15 and hates pictures showing her full face, plays the violin like a pro, and has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever had the blessing of loving).

We are incredibly blessed to have had two parents (Lizet and Gerardo) that not only made us into the people we are today but also built a strong foundation of unity and fostered an unbreakable bond between me and my siblings that we have always prioritized and valued as a group. A bond that undoubtedly became stronger when we lost our mom to cancer two years ago, and that is now more present and important than ever following my dad’s passing.

Although my dad left us with a beautiful family and the memories of what was an incredibly blessed life, he regrettably left us in a state of financial vulnerability and insecurity for the foreseeable future which is why we find ourselves in the position of appealing to your heart and compassion in what is a very difficult and unpredictable situation for us four.

I want anyone that doesn’t know me personally and may see me and feel as though I am too young or unprepared to take on the role as my siblings caregiver to please not be concerned about their well being. I want you all to know that I not only have an army of support from my extended family and from my community, but that I have prioritized, planned extensively, and have started every process necessary to ensure a safe and stable environment for us to continue together as a family.

Most importantly, my goal is for my siblings to be able to continue to grow together as happy and healthy as possible in light of our current situation and get to live something that resembles the lives and futures that they hoped for prior to losing both of our parents.

My family is more united than we’ve ever been before, and we are very determined to come out on top of this but for that we need your help until we find and solidify our footing, which God willing will just be for these next few months.

If you got this far once again thank you for caring for me and my family, for helping us rebuild and stay together. Whether you’re able to donate or not I still thank you!! It is completely okay and you can help regardless by please sharing this link with anyone you think may be able to help or to spread the cause further. I would like to reinforce that no act of kindness too small or insignificant. Please believe and trust me when I say any act of kindness holds immense value to us right now, whether it be a donation (anything helps), support in sharing our link, or even a prayer. We are eternally grateful.

I have created a budget detailing the expenses I foresee for the following three months in terms of necessities and if any of you would like to see it to have an idea of what your donation is going towards please feel free to reach out to me.

May all your kindness and compassion be repaid and multiplied in blessings in your life!

Thank you,

MariaJose, Santiago, Angel and Beatriz