Help The Sifuentes Children

A fatality rollover accident took their mom, June Sifuentes at the young age of 42, one evening last week. June leaves behind three girls and two boys. The youngest is thirteen and the oldest only twenty-four.

This accident also involved June's dog "Nena". Both were ejected from the car. June did not survive, her dog Nena ran from the scene and was found alive a few days later.

Because their mother was so young and had lived a life fighting addiction, which we believe she was fighting incredibly hard to overcome, her children are now found in a position, quite literally in an instant, of being legally responsible to pay for the costs involved in their mothers death.

June did not have any life insurance. June did not have any real property or items of value that the kids can sell to help pay these costs. June was fighting hard to overcome some incredibly hard obstacles and was transient, which leaves her children with nothing but costs and a loss so big nothing can compare now.

These kids had already lived a hard life. They were taken into foster care at a young age, bounced around in homes, and have seen and experienced so much more already than a lot of us will have seen at an old age.

Even through all these hardships, you will find her daughter's are incredible young women. One of these young women in particular, I have the blessing of having in my life. She never fails to amaze me. She is working full-time, putting herself through college, and driving for a food delivery service after hours, just so she can afford to make it on her own with no help from anyone else. This is partly because she has no one that can help her, no family that she can live with near her work, but also because she doesn't want to be burden. She is an incredible young women that every parent would be proud of.

It is tragic enough that these children have lost their mother at such a young age, however being tasked to make ALL decisions and bear ALL costs associated with their mothers death is making this incredibly hard loss even harder. This burden has been assigned to two of the local children in particular, both of whom are of legal age, who are much to young to have financially prepared for this, and who point blank can not afford to.

I heard something recently that although it was biblical, I think everyone can agree on. I won't attempt to quote it, but will say this about it. We should not make children pay for their parents mistakes. That is what's happening now. The children should not be tasked with finding a way to pay, but they will. They will not turn their back or reject this responsibility and will do whatever they can to give their mother a decent and respectful service. And while they could say no and refuse, or be bitter about hard times in their lives that were forced upon them, these kids continue to see the beauty, the love, and the good, in their mom June Sifuentes. They can see that their although their mother struggled, she did so with love for them in her heart.

Because they cant afford to take time off work, her daughter was back to work the following morning. She will take an hour off to meet with the funeral home, or will take a few hours off so she can view her mom and have a minute to say goodbye, and go right back to work. I really can't even imagine what that must feel like and how heavy this must feel on her shoulders.

Part of their biological family lives in Arizona and the costs to travel to Washington alone are to much for any one person to afford. The funeral plan which isn't top of the line is about 3k. There are five family members that are so important to have here from Arizona, one of which is their minor sister. The cost for five people to travel, just in time for the Thanksgiving season, and at last minute, is incredibly expensive. They will need somewhere to stay, food to eat, and have costs associated with the travel to return home.

I would love to be able to raise enough money to not only cover the costs of their mothers service, but to afford them the ability to take time off work to grieve, to spend with family, to be able to stop and take a breath and just cry, and plan the services for their mother, without risking their rent payment, food in their cupboard, and heat in their house.

The dog has been taken in by one daughter who quite honestly just wasn't in a position to take on added expenses of a dog, which are going to add up. This dog still needs vet care from the accident, a spay so she isn't having puppies in a few months, dog food, dog house, ect.

In a perfect world, I would love nothing more than to afford these kids with the ability to take a week off work, which I truly believe when you have lost your parent isn't near enough. I would like to be able to pay for the dog's vet visit, and have her spayed. I would like to be able to buy enough dogfood to last her a year. I would like to be able to pay for their minor sister to travel from Arizona with her guardian and be able to stay the week with her sisters. I would like to be able to give them the ability to help house and feed the rest of the family that can come from Arizona.

I can't tell you how incredible these kids are, how strong they are, and what they have already suffered through in life. While many of us were safe at home with our families, they often were not, or had recently been placed with a new family they didn't know. Please help me help them. Any money raised will be spent in the best way possible to maximize the current costs, and upcoming costs. There is not one penny that they can use from their mothers estate, because there is literally nothing, and will have many more costs than these I've listed.

Please help them.

Thank you - Shanda