Hi, my name is Loren Hallmark and I am fundraising for a Memorial Garden in honor of my friend, neighbor and colleague, Heather Cheuka.

Heather Cheuka was a beloved teacher at Newton Collins Elementary and an active member of the Easton Park Community. She fiercely lead an educational movement at Collins from the day the school opened till the day she left. Her passion for teaching was undeniable. She continuously improved her craft year after year and shared her knowledge with administration and staff to advocate for all students at Collins. She was the type of teacher other teachers aspired to be like. She was the type of teacher students dreamed to be like.

Heather’s impact poured out of the halls of Collins and into the community of Easton Park. When she moved into the neighborhood she immediately was an active part of every facebook community group, she organized kids camps in the summer, she was the neighborhood dog sitter/babysitter and she was always looking for ways to make neighbors feel included. Everyone knew who Heather Cheuka was in Easton Park and no one will ever forget her.

Heather and I joined the Newton Collins PTA Executive Board in 2022 with the intention of serving the school we believed in and loved. Even though she was on the PTA for a short time, she made a huge impact. On behalf of the Newton Collins Elementary PTA we are fundraising to create The Heather Cheuka Memorial Garden. After navigating the approval process though Del Valle ISD, we finally got the Board of Trustees approval to have the Memorial Garden at the front of Newton Collins!

The Heather Cheuka Memorial Garden will serve as a place that students, staff, and the community can reminisce and heal. Much like how Aloe Vera plants heal our physical pains, we are planting aloes from her garden to represent the healing process after a loss. In addition to aloes, we will plant other drought tolerant plants that reflect the Collins school colors. To honor Heather's passion for education, students at Collins will have opportunities with their class to interact with the Memorial Garden by observing the life cycle of plants and investigating the interactions and relationships of plants and their environment.

The majority of our fundraising goal of $3,000 will go towards the cost of hiring a local landscape design company. They will provide the design, plants (other than the aloes), and labor. Other costs included in the $3,000 fundraising goal include, a high quality plaque that will be welded to the stone seating near the Garden, and the yearly maintenance costs which we expect to be about $100. After we reach our fundraising goal our next steps would be to get our design approved by the district, break ground after the winter freeze and hopefully have the Garden ready by Heather's birthday in March!

We hope you will help us reach our fundraising goal so we can honor Heather Cheuka and remember the impact she made on so many people. If you are not able to give monetarily, we welcome volunteers who would like to help maintain the Garden throughout the year! Please email lorenkelly2 and ncesfamily at gmail.com if you are interested.

Thank you!

Loren Hallmark