Emma's education fund for Haru

Hi my name is Angela. I started this campaign in memory of our mother, Emma Torregoza, who recently passed away from stage 4 cholangiocarcinoma, which is a rare form of cancer of the bile ducts. My mom was diagnosed with this illness in December 2020 and 9 months later, on September 11, 2021, she peacefully passed away in our home surrounded by her loving family. It is her wish to have a private funeral service for her family. In lieu of flowers and other contributions, we are asking those who would like to show love for our mom to donate to this campaign to raise funds for the education fund for her one and only grandchild, Haru. This is to ensure that her desire of giving Haru the best education we can provide comes to fruition.

 

About Emma

My mom, Emma, was a teacher. She taught elementary school and served as a school administrator for almost 20 years in the Philippines. An opportunity came to teach at the Pre-K program with the Catholic Charities here in New York which led to her immigrating to the United States. She then decided to teach in public school, ultimately finding her home at PS 120 in Brooklyn, where she worked for almost 20 more years as a Pre-K teacher until she retired in 2018 to look after her grandson, Haru.

 

Emma and Haru

Since then, Haru, became our mother's sole and primary focus, pouring all her love and energy into this little bundle of joy. As a result of my mom's efforts, Haru started reading at 2 years old. At 3 years old, he already has the reading and comprehension level beyond his years. He is bilingual in English and Japanese and speaks some Filipino. He is a runner, a swimmer, a ninja-in-training, a breakdancer, a skateboarder, a musician and an aspiring MTA bus driver, among others things. With your contribution, Haru can be all this and more, and you'll help us achieve our mom's wishes of giving Haru the best education we can provide.

 

We're sharing a slideshow of some of our mom's sweetest moments with Haru. Original song "Goodspeed" composed by my brother, Juan Torregoza (Haru's dad), in honor of my mom's journey with cancer. https://theclimbingrose.bandcamp.com/album/godspeed