Remembering Our Maxie, Memorial Service July 18th
Donation protected
I just got off the phone with Glueckert Funeral Home to confirm that we can finally have a proper funeral service for my precious Maxie. I'm going there tomorrow at 1:00 to finalize everything, sign the paperwork and give them a deposit.
We went over a lot of the details on the phone and I'll be able to have most of the things that we weren't allowed to do when Maxie passed away suddenly on April 18th, the day my world came crashing down around me. Every single aspect of the grieving process has been made so much worse by restrictions placed on gatherings. When Max passed away we were only able to have a few immediate family members in the funeral home. Not being able to mourn this devastating loss with my friends, family and everyone who would have wanted to say goodbye to Maxie has been absolutely unbearable. I've been calling the funeral home every few days for the past ten weeks, impatiently waiting for this day to arrive. The day that I could announce the time and place for this memorial service to remember Maxie together, and also celebrate his beautiful life that has touched and inspired people around the world since he was a baby.
Maxie's memorial service will take place at Glueckert Funeral Home in Arlington Heights, IL on Saturday, July 18th. Visitation is from 11am-1:30pm and the service will be from 1:30-3. We're having the same Pastor who gave Maxie a beautiful funeral service in April. I'm bringing Maxie's urn for visitation as well as tons of pictures and a slideshow will be playing. We'll finally be able to have printed materials, a guest book, and decorate the funeral home with beautiful flowers for our precious boy. Maxie was pure light and love and I have been in tears every single day without him here. Being allowed to have this gathering will relieve some of the additional stress without this cloud of anxiety and stress hanging over my head.
My biggest fear is that everyone has already moved on with their lives and we won't have the amount of people who would have normally come to his funeral. Please share this information anywhere Maxie's friends will see it. The information will be posted on the funeral home's website and we'll run another obituary in the Herald so people who aren't on social media will be able to find out about the memorial service.
The details are set and I pray that people will still come to pay their respects and say goodbye. The funeral director said they even have a special flower display for his urn and I can pick the colors for that and decide on other flower arrangements tomorrow. Even though it's technically not a funeral, Maxie's remains will be with us and so will his everlasting spirit and love.
There are still social distancing rules, but the funeral director said that with a four hour memorial there won't be a problem with having 50 people inside at a time. We will provide cold water and possibly snacks outside if people are waiting. No one really knows what to expect because this isn't typically how things are done, but we are prepared to accommodate as many people as possible.
I am reaching out to all our friends and family asking for help so I can afford to give Maxie the send off he deserves. I'll be back to teaching yoga at the studio a couple days a week soon, and I have been trying to do as many classes as possible at home, but this is not going to be close to covering the cost of his service. I am asking for donations to help cover the cost of Maxie's memorial service in lieu of flowers or donations to any other organization at this time. For me, being able to mourn this loss and remember Maxie with as many people as possible is more important than anything else right now. I've been living in a state of limbo and unimaginable sadness for exactly ten weeks today, but finally there is this glimmer of hope on the horizon and I just need a little help to make it happen.
Thank you for everything so many of you, our friends, family and many people I don't even know have already done. I will finally be allowed to have this little bit of closure on July 18th and I appreciate any help you can spare. No donation is too small because it all adds up and even sharing this campaign will help a lot. I have three weeks to raise this money.
With warmth, gratitude and a broken heart,
Ilyce Randell
Link to Glueckert Funeral Home Obituary and Memorial Information
*I have received a few questions about the original GoFundMe account and why I changed the name and then closed it. The original goal was $40,000 and it was set up for the purpose of raising enough money to pay off the balance on Maxie's van and then donate it to another family. I owed $39,000 at that time, but I was only able to raise a little under $11,000. I paid down $10,000 and now I can sell it to a family in need for an extremely reduced price of $29,000 .
After it became clear that I wouldn't be able to raise enough money to donate the van I lowered the goal to $15,000, and changed the information to say that we only needed $4000 more to help with Maxie's memorial. The old GoFundMe has been used to pay down $10,000 and I also was able to donate about $30,000 of Maxie's medical equipment to families around the world and cover the shipping costs. Yesterday I decided to close the old GoFundMe and create this new one specifically for the costs of Maxie's memorial service. I had a long call with the funeral director and what I plan to do will cost between $3500-$4000. I hope this helps clarify why I closed the other GoFundMe. I thought it was more appropriate for me to just start a new one and have the goal match exactly what I need to raise. You can message me through this campaign for more information, or if you are interested in details about the handicapped van, it's still sitting in my garage.
We went over a lot of the details on the phone and I'll be able to have most of the things that we weren't allowed to do when Maxie passed away suddenly on April 18th, the day my world came crashing down around me. Every single aspect of the grieving process has been made so much worse by restrictions placed on gatherings. When Max passed away we were only able to have a few immediate family members in the funeral home. Not being able to mourn this devastating loss with my friends, family and everyone who would have wanted to say goodbye to Maxie has been absolutely unbearable. I've been calling the funeral home every few days for the past ten weeks, impatiently waiting for this day to arrive. The day that I could announce the time and place for this memorial service to remember Maxie together, and also celebrate his beautiful life that has touched and inspired people around the world since he was a baby.
Maxie's memorial service will take place at Glueckert Funeral Home in Arlington Heights, IL on Saturday, July 18th. Visitation is from 11am-1:30pm and the service will be from 1:30-3. We're having the same Pastor who gave Maxie a beautiful funeral service in April. I'm bringing Maxie's urn for visitation as well as tons of pictures and a slideshow will be playing. We'll finally be able to have printed materials, a guest book, and decorate the funeral home with beautiful flowers for our precious boy. Maxie was pure light and love and I have been in tears every single day without him here. Being allowed to have this gathering will relieve some of the additional stress without this cloud of anxiety and stress hanging over my head.
My biggest fear is that everyone has already moved on with their lives and we won't have the amount of people who would have normally come to his funeral. Please share this information anywhere Maxie's friends will see it. The information will be posted on the funeral home's website and we'll run another obituary in the Herald so people who aren't on social media will be able to find out about the memorial service.
The details are set and I pray that people will still come to pay their respects and say goodbye. The funeral director said they even have a special flower display for his urn and I can pick the colors for that and decide on other flower arrangements tomorrow. Even though it's technically not a funeral, Maxie's remains will be with us and so will his everlasting spirit and love.
There are still social distancing rules, but the funeral director said that with a four hour memorial there won't be a problem with having 50 people inside at a time. We will provide cold water and possibly snacks outside if people are waiting. No one really knows what to expect because this isn't typically how things are done, but we are prepared to accommodate as many people as possible.
I am reaching out to all our friends and family asking for help so I can afford to give Maxie the send off he deserves. I'll be back to teaching yoga at the studio a couple days a week soon, and I have been trying to do as many classes as possible at home, but this is not going to be close to covering the cost of his service. I am asking for donations to help cover the cost of Maxie's memorial service in lieu of flowers or donations to any other organization at this time. For me, being able to mourn this loss and remember Maxie with as many people as possible is more important than anything else right now. I've been living in a state of limbo and unimaginable sadness for exactly ten weeks today, but finally there is this glimmer of hope on the horizon and I just need a little help to make it happen.
Thank you for everything so many of you, our friends, family and many people I don't even know have already done. I will finally be allowed to have this little bit of closure on July 18th and I appreciate any help you can spare. No donation is too small because it all adds up and even sharing this campaign will help a lot. I have three weeks to raise this money.
With warmth, gratitude and a broken heart,
Ilyce Randell
Link to Glueckert Funeral Home Obituary and Memorial Information
*I have received a few questions about the original GoFundMe account and why I changed the name and then closed it. The original goal was $40,000 and it was set up for the purpose of raising enough money to pay off the balance on Maxie's van and then donate it to another family. I owed $39,000 at that time, but I was only able to raise a little under $11,000. I paid down $10,000 and now I can sell it to a family in need for an extremely reduced price of $29,000 .
After it became clear that I wouldn't be able to raise enough money to donate the van I lowered the goal to $15,000, and changed the information to say that we only needed $4000 more to help with Maxie's memorial. The old GoFundMe has been used to pay down $10,000 and I also was able to donate about $30,000 of Maxie's medical equipment to families around the world and cover the shipping costs. Yesterday I decided to close the old GoFundMe and create this new one specifically for the costs of Maxie's memorial service. I had a long call with the funeral director and what I plan to do will cost between $3500-$4000. I hope this helps clarify why I closed the other GoFundMe. I thought it was more appropriate for me to just start a new one and have the goal match exactly what I need to raise. You can message me through this campaign for more information, or if you are interested in details about the handicapped van, it's still sitting in my garage.
Organizer
Ilyce Hartman Randell
Organizer
Buffalo Grove, IL