As a family we decided to raise and donate this money to a cause that was close to Max’s heart. Our first obvious consideration was something related to the opioid crisis.  At 28 years old, Max was into his 23th month of sobriety when he lost his battle with this deadly disease while in a rehabilitation facility in Costa Rica. He ended up as a weekend manager of the facility and left a lasting impression on the patients at that time by his gentle nature and his sincere caring of others. 

Our first thought was to donate money to this facility geared towards helping families with the financial burdens. Although we DO plan on following through with assistance of some kind in Max’s honor, we wanted something more specific closer to home.  Max had a real compassion for animals.  He grew up with puppies in the home, had snakes, lizards and fish while living in San Diego, adopted 2 cats while in Costa Rica, and couldn’t pass up an animal on the street without stopping to pet.

In our area here in Illinois, there is a pet clinic, “Lakes Animal Health Clinic”, known for there quality treatment of animals, but more importantly, known for their considerably low-cost fees.  They are more concerned about helping with the treatment of family pets, then they are profits.  As such, we wanted to donate in Max’s name to this clinic.  It would be a fund that the facility’s doctors could draw upon at their discretion to help families in need of financial assistance when treating their pets.

Please help us with this cause.  We know Max would approve.