It is with a heavy heart that we solicit your assistance in helping us to honor the memory of such a beautiful soul, Noel Aaron Russell. With just 23 years on this earth, we know that his kind smile and infectious laugh has touched so many lives. We have read the many posts of how he gave you confidence for the hard task or kept you company on your roughest days as a listening ear. This is the sweet, free and funny guy we knew and loved. He was a son, a brother, a friend and a person who was worth the extra few minutes it might have taken to spare his life.  

Noel was ripped from this life by two officers of the Napa Police Department and written off as just another homeless guy. What they didn't know is the kid they would murder, entered the world with the deck stacked against him and for a long time had beaten the odds. Rescued at 12  from the cycle of being passed from foster home to foster home by his, then 24 year old cousin, Noel began to thrive and enjoy things that all kids should. From family vacations to simply a room to call his own, LeAnda, who he called mom, would stop at nothing to make sure Noel knew he had a place in the world where he was welcomed and loved. It feels like yesterday his mom was packing the car to take him to his dorm for the next chapter, college, and warning him not to fall in with the wrong crowd, all the things that parents say. Who knew that in college he would be introduced to drugs, like so many of our young people  and a new struggle would begin.

The Napa Police Department decided that Noel was not valuable or worthy of help and that it would be easier to use the most deadliest force to get the attention of a 100 pound kid. They decided he was not worth a chance and that there was nothing more he could contribute to the world.  Well we know otherwise. We want to give Noel a memorial that is fitting for the beautiful spirit we were blessed to know. We want a day filled with so much light and laughter to emulate the  feeling Noel brought with every encouter. We want to say his name, Noel Aaron Russell, and make sure the Napa Police Department never forgets it.

Anthing you can do to help us do that, we sincelerly appreciate it.

#JusticeforNoel