For 14 years, my cousin Chris Collier has been the steady heart of the Gaisman Park revival in Memphis' Berclair neighborhood. In January, he lost his own steady heart, his wife of 24 years, Jana. Now Chris is at risk of losing their home, out of which the Friends of Gaisman group is run. He needs our help while he navigates his grief, the loss of her income, and his new normal. More than anything, he wants to continue serving his community.

Please consider donating, any amount helps and is deeply appreciated! If you know Chris and Jana, you already know why he truly deserves to feel love of a community rallying around him right now. If you don't, read on and I'll tell you more.

Jana was a beloved member of the community. The home she built with Chris isn't just a house. It's a hub Chris and Jana created a space for family, friends, and neighbors. It's a base of operations for Friends of Gaisman Park, and its location next door to the park is how Chris has been able to remove 185,000 gallons of trash from the park, keep the grass mowed, build a park support network, create space for numerous events by community groups, planted trees, support and facilitate art and literacy in the park, adopted Macon Road through the adopt-a-street program, and more. He'll tell you it hasn't all been him, there have been so many hands to help, but someone had to put those hands in motion and get people re-invested. That person was Chris. Gaisman looks nothing like it did 10 years ago, and it's thanks in no small part to Chris and Jana Collier.

All of this is volunteer work. Chris and Jana chose to make Gaisman and Berclair their passion because they loved it and their neighbors. Berclair is an underserved community, and the only help they ever asked for was for the park. Now he needs to feel the same love and support he and Jana have given so selflessly. Chris deserves a chance to mourn her loss without worrying about losing the work he's dedicated himself to tirelessly for the past 14 years.

Thank you for reading, donating, and sharing this gofundme!

-Luke Stark, and thank you to Cole Bradley for helping me write this ❤️