Sharing Support for Ariana: Donate in Memory of Olivia Hope

Hello to fellow friends and connections from Rochester Institute of Technology! I hope you are all doing well on your different paths in life, and even though I haven’t kept in touch with all of you, I miss the fun times we had together at RIT. Those will always be some of the golden years of my life. I'm creating this GoFundMe donation as a call for support of Ariana (Infozino) Travelstead and her family. I shared a lot of my later years in college with Ariana, late nights in the industrial design studio or in the College Activities Board (CAB) office, learning from each other, laughing, and generally being silly. I have always admired Ariana for her ambition, her courage, and her faith—qualities being put to the test during a recent hardship and devastating loss in her life.

If you haven’t been following Ariana (Infozino) Travelstead’s story on Facebook, her and her husband recently lost their first child during childbirth this past Labor Day weekend. My heart breaks for their tragedy and the hope, love, joy, and dreams they had for their life as a family, which are now irrevocably changed. I can’t imagine their sense of grief but am in awe of their strength and peace as they say goodbye to their daughter. Hunter and Ariana have strength in each other and the communities they've built around themselves.

While thinking about what I could do to show my sympathy, I thought about the group of friends Ariana shared with me through her passion for art and design in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences (CIAS) and CAB. I wanted to reach out to you all, as a part of that community, with the opportunity to memorialize her daughter, Olivia Hope Travelstead. I think a huge gift to the family is simply reminding them of how many people they have in their corner. There is absolutely NO obligation to donate, but in case you wanted to contribute on behalf of the CAB family or CIAS family, I will be organizing the purchase of a brick (can’t shake Brick City) at the Midland TX Museum of the Southwest. The brick costs $500 and would be placed outside of The Fredda Turner Durham Children's Museum, which just opened this year. Any additional proceeds will be donated to Midland Memorial Hospital Foundation, where an amazing team of doctors and nurses helped to save Ariana's life after birth complications and shared their care and emotional support throughout their loss.

My thoughts and prayers are with Ariana and her family, especially as she recovers physically and emotionally. Thank you all for sharing the burden of grief in your thoughts, words, and actions. The love and connections we make with each other in this life make our sense of loss much greater, but without love, life would not be worth living. Wishing the best to friends old and new, and hoping for peace and healing for the Travelsteads.

Thank you,

Katherine (Sears) Lucarelli

Hunter Travelstead's Facebook Post