Help Carmen put her eight year old nephew to rest

Hello all,

Thank you for taking the time to read this page. My name is Megan and I am putting together this “gofundme” page on behalf of my coworker, Carmen. Carmen is 30 years old and from a small town in Guatemala. She has worked at Marketime Foods for just under three years. She works incredibly hard to support her five kids and family in Seattle and Guatemala. She only speaks Spanish and thanks to my many years of Spanish in school, we have been able to communicate with one another and develop a friendship.

This past Sunday morning I arrived at work and was greeted by my coworker Tony (who is Carmen’s cousin). Tony informed me that Carmen was not doing well because she had just learned that her 8-year-old nephew, Nicolás, had been tragically killed in a car accident in Guatemala. I asked Tony where Carmen was, assuming she was either flying back to Guatemala or taking some time off work to grieve. He told me Carmen was at the store for her regular shift. When I saw Carmen, she explained what had happened to her nephew and immediately started crying. She showed me a video of Nicolás lying on a dirt road with women from the community surrounding him and wailing. It was so heartbreaking.

I couldn’t believe that Carmen was at work when she was understandably so upset. When I asked her if she would be able to travel to Guatemala she said she could not afford to purchase a plane ticket nor take the time off work and sacrifice her wages. Not only does she support her family here, but she helps support her family in Guatemala as well.

I went to inform our boss of Carmen’s loss and could not even get words out before I broke down sobbing. While Carmen has not been able to visit Guatemala for some time, she is extremely close with her family there and speaks with them daily. It is so devastating to watch such a kind, hard-working person experience so much pain and be unable to grieve with their family.

Any money raised from this page will go towards purchasing Carmen a plane ticket to Guatemala along with covering her wages for the work days she will miss. I want to help Carmen and her family through this tragic event and give them the chance to grieve and mourn together.

Thank you for your consideration.

Megan