Ricardo Calixto's family

Dear friends,

Please help us support the family of Marlene Calixto, after the massive stroke suffered by Marlene's brother, Ricardo.

As many of you know, our family met Marlene almost 14 years ago through the Charlestown Mothers Association neighborhood group. When we met Marlene, our daughter Cleo was 3 months old. Marlene showed up on our doorstep and told us the story of her life, first moving from El Salvador at 19 and then giving birth to her own daughter, Karen, who was unable to speak on account of a blood disorder that impacted her brain function. When we met Marlene she had just made the difficult decision to place Karen in a residential group home. From the moment Marlene held Cleo and told us about other children she had taken care of, we knew we had met an incredible person, not just for the care of our daughter (and eventually our son, Max), but also for her natural and calm way with children and her empathy and concern for others.

Over the years, we have watched as Marlene has followed her passion for teaching; earning her Early Childhood Development Certificate at Bunker Hill Community College and working towards her college degree. Her reach has also extended beyond our family since she started working at Charlestown Nursery School, where she is beloved by her fellow teachers, families, and, of course, any student who meets her.

In addition to working long hours, Marlene worked for many years to help her brother, Ricardo, legally emigrate from El Salvador where he worked as a police officer. In 2013, 12 years from the date of his initial application, Ricardo legally arrived in the United States. For the next four years, Ricardo worked in a factory in South Boston, studied English at night and navigated the complex paperwork and bureaucracy to bring his family to this country. In 2017, the very morning that Donald Trump took his oath of office, Ricardo's wife, Mirna and his two sons, Byron and Erick, arrived legally at Logan Airport. In 2019, Ricardo became a citizen of the U.S., and gained citizenship status for his two boys (the picture above was taken on the day they received their citizenship).

Two weeks ago, Ricardo suffered a massive stroke. As you can imagine, Marlene has been by his side daily and is making decisions regarding his care. Luckily, Ricardo is receiving world-class care at Massachusetts General Hospital. From everything that is known today, we are not sure what the coming months and years will hold for Ricardo. We do know, however, that his family will not have adequate financial resources to maintain the basic needs of housing and food without additional assistance. We would like to make sure that Ricardo's youngest son Byron (16) is able to remain in high school and continue working towards hospitality management and a college degree.

Please join us as we try to raise funds to maintain the daily needs of this incredibly resilient family. They have been an inspiration to our own family, and especially at this time in this crazy world they represent the hard work, hope and compassion that is so important to our family, friends and neighborhood.

Finally, if any of you are aware of any resources which might be available for the family to access please feel free to reach out to me directly at [phone redacted] so we can help them.

Abby, Mike, Cleo & Max