Lavette Meredith Family Fund and Memorial Fund

Hi, my name is Jenny Astrachan. Someone I admired and loved dearly passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday, May 17. Her name was Lavette Meredith, and she was only 51. In the fall of 2020 I started volunteering with a local mutual aid organization, and that's how I met Lavette. To watch her at work was inspiring. Every week, she'd organize an enormous grocery delivery for her neighbors in the Bayview Housing Development in Canarsie, Brooklyn. She'd say to me, "They forget we're out here. People are hungry. They need food. They need diapers. I just can't watch people suffer like this. It's not right." And so she would cook for 80-100 of her neighbors every week, often on the charcoal grill on her apartment balcony. She'd source diapers and baby supplies for new parents. She'd organize holiday gatherings, school supply drives, and coat drives. She'd do the jobs of 100 people, and still manage to make us laugh and feel special.

 

Lavette loved and adored her 13-year-old son, and was so proud of his numerous accomplishments, but especially that he was kind. That kindness runs through this whole family. Lavette's dear mother, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles and cousins are mourning her loss, but still thinking of the needs of others, and how they're going to carry out Lavette's dream of hosting a pantry that could feed all of Bayview. I hope we can raise money to support the Meredith Family with funeral costs, so that they can pay tribute to Lavette and celebrate her enormous contribution to this world. And I hope that her son is able to celebrate incredible milestones, like his junior high prom and junior high graduation. And I hope that this family is granted some comfort in these uncertain times, through your generous donations. Lavette did so much for so many people in her short time on this earth. It was a privilege to know her, and an honor to be her friend. I'll miss you, sweet Lavette. I'm forever grateful to you for changing my life. You changed so many lives.