Sending Zhara Home To Her Family
Donation protected
Dearest family and friends,
We are reaching out to you in this vulnerable time for our family. We have recently lost a father, a grandmother, and a friend all at once and without warning. This murder suicide has shaken our lives and the lives of all those that loved Dan, Pat, and Zhara May.
Events like these are not ones you plan for. They are something you hear about but never imagine will happen within your own family. Despite this, we have been left with a strength of family, community and loving friends.
Where there has been great pain and loss, there has also been great kindness and generosity. We are humbled by the compassion of all those around us.
Dan's pain took his life and the lives of two of those he loved most. But rather than finding ourselves overrun with hopelessness, we have found ourselves facing the truth of an undeniable goodness in people.
In the aftermath of it all, we have found our little family in part legally and financially responsible for laying both Dan and his wife Zhara May to rest.
Regardless of this legality, we personally feel emotionally, morally, and ethically responsible for returning Zhara's body home to her family in the Philippines.
Which is why we are here now asking for your help. In order to send her home we need to *first* pay for her flight and transportation. This is an estimated $5,100 needed upfront.
Of the approximately $10,000 we need to pay for Zhara, and $3,000 for Dan, that $5,100 is needed as soon as possible if Zhara's body is to return home.
There is no greater loss than the loss of a child. As parents ourselves we feel it is important for her parents and her family to get what closure they can in the face of this tragedy.
Her family do not have the means to bring her home themselves, and most certainly would if they could.
It is Filipino custom to hold a vigil for deceased loved ones within the home for days, up to weeks, after someone has died. Traditionally her body would have been visited in her family's home during this time, with a ceremony each evening. After the burial, there are nine days of prayer. It is Filipino belief that it is on the ninth day after being laid to rest in the ground that the soul departs and enters the afterlife. These beliefs are still held within most religions, and are the beliefs of Zhara's catholic family.
Zhara May was a beautiful person full of love, joy and laughter. In the short time we knew her she was a good friend to both us and to our sons.
Zhara had many great dreams for her future. She was excited to be a mother herself one day, and was training hard to become an RN.
She loved children, was generous, and enjoyed caring for others.
Always smiling and happy, she was an easy person to love.
She is very missed.
We are asking now for your help, however you are able.
Please donate and/or share this campaign so that Zhara May's body can go home to her family.
There they can finally lay her to rest, honoring her as to her own traditions.
With love and deep gratitude,
Hannah and Nate
We are reaching out to you in this vulnerable time for our family. We have recently lost a father, a grandmother, and a friend all at once and without warning. This murder suicide has shaken our lives and the lives of all those that loved Dan, Pat, and Zhara May.
Events like these are not ones you plan for. They are something you hear about but never imagine will happen within your own family. Despite this, we have been left with a strength of family, community and loving friends.
Where there has been great pain and loss, there has also been great kindness and generosity. We are humbled by the compassion of all those around us.
Dan's pain took his life and the lives of two of those he loved most. But rather than finding ourselves overrun with hopelessness, we have found ourselves facing the truth of an undeniable goodness in people.
In the aftermath of it all, we have found our little family in part legally and financially responsible for laying both Dan and his wife Zhara May to rest.
Regardless of this legality, we personally feel emotionally, morally, and ethically responsible for returning Zhara's body home to her family in the Philippines.
Which is why we are here now asking for your help. In order to send her home we need to *first* pay for her flight and transportation. This is an estimated $5,100 needed upfront.
Of the approximately $10,000 we need to pay for Zhara, and $3,000 for Dan, that $5,100 is needed as soon as possible if Zhara's body is to return home.
There is no greater loss than the loss of a child. As parents ourselves we feel it is important for her parents and her family to get what closure they can in the face of this tragedy.
Her family do not have the means to bring her home themselves, and most certainly would if they could.
It is Filipino custom to hold a vigil for deceased loved ones within the home for days, up to weeks, after someone has died. Traditionally her body would have been visited in her family's home during this time, with a ceremony each evening. After the burial, there are nine days of prayer. It is Filipino belief that it is on the ninth day after being laid to rest in the ground that the soul departs and enters the afterlife. These beliefs are still held within most religions, and are the beliefs of Zhara's catholic family.
Zhara May was a beautiful person full of love, joy and laughter. In the short time we knew her she was a good friend to both us and to our sons.
Zhara had many great dreams for her future. She was excited to be a mother herself one day, and was training hard to become an RN.
She loved children, was generous, and enjoyed caring for others.
Always smiling and happy, she was an easy person to love.
She is very missed.
We are asking now for your help, however you are able.
Please donate and/or share this campaign so that Zhara May's body can go home to her family.
There they can finally lay her to rest, honoring her as to her own traditions.
With love and deep gratitude,
Hannah and Nate
Organizer
Hannah Hewland
Organizer
Washburn, WI
