In Honor of Sandra; Jump. Dance. Rise.

Some people live loudly. Some people live kindly.

Sandra Marcinkowski somehow did both and made it look effortless.

She was a nurse, a fitness instructor, a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter; and somehow, still so much more.

She didn’t just care for people because it was her job. She cared because it was who she was, down to her core. Sandra showed up. Not just when it was easy, but when it wasn’t. She showed up for people who needed her, even when they didn’t always show up for her. She never let the way others acted change her heart, her morals, or her willingness to love. That kind of strength is rare and it’s exactly what made her unforgettable.

She with her husband, Greg, was raising Zephyr, just 3 years old, and Ayden, 12, while cheering on her daughter Kiele, 20, as she built her future in college. She opened her home and her life to Nadia, Kenya, and Jashun... raising them, guiding them, loving them as her own. Jashun now serves in the United States Air Force, a reflection of the kind of foundation she gave.

She exuded life in ways most people never will; including becoming a surrogate for a stranger, helping create a family where there once wasn’t one. She spent her nights caring for others as a nurse, her days leading and inspiring as a fitness instructor, and her in-between moments doing what she always did... taking care of everyone else.

She was fearless. A skydiver. A scuba diver. A woman who didn’t sit on the sidelines of life. She jumped in, fully!

And somehow, even with everything she carried, she was light. People felt it immediately. Even those who only met her briefly described her the same way: a force… a glowing light.

On March 10th, at just 41 years old, what should have been a normal day turned into something unimaginable. After a medical emergency, it was later discovered that Sandra had suffered a massive stroke caused by a blood clot to her brainstem. Despite every effort, the damage was irreversible. She fought longer than expected. Long enough to reach March 20th, the first day of spring. Anyone who knew Sandra knows that matters. She hated the cold, the gray, the weight of winter. And somehow, she made it to the light. Her loss is sudden. It is devastating. And it has left a silence where there was once constant movement, energy, and love.

Her husband, Greg, is now facing the unthinkable; moving forward without his partner, while raising their boys and holding together the life they built side by side. The road ahead is heavy with real, immediate needs: stability, childcare, education, moving expenses, medical care, counseling, and the legal steps to continue securing their family’s future.

If Sandra showed us anything, it’s this: you don’t turn away when people need you.

This is where we show up for her. Every donation will go directly toward helping Greg and the kids rebuild, find stability, and move forward in a way that honors everything Sandra gave to this world.

Sandra didn’t need a motto. She lived it.

So in her honor, through the grief, through the heartbreak, through the impossible... we keep moving.

Jump. Dance. Rise. For Sandra.