In Memoriam of Erick Alvarado - Fundraiser for "Erick's Fireplace"

Help us raise funds for "Erick's Fireplace" at The Wellness Farm Foundation's retreat center for grieving families - by the Alvarado Family

It has been three years since Erick tragically passed away on July 29, 2022 and we will be celebrating what would be his 32nd birthday this month. We miss him dearly. We miss his outgoing personality, listening to him play the guitar, and kicking around a soccer ball. 

His younger sister Tanya has been volunteering in his memory in her Masters of Social Work program at a therapeutic farm nonprofit for grief and trauma in Bluffdale, Utah with a beautiful retreat center opening September 2025.

Our hope is to raise funds to cover the cost of the stone fireplace and mantle to complement the gas fireplace generously donated by Hearth and Home to create an amazing ambiance for those who come to find peace and healing. We chose the fireplace due to a special poem that helped Tanya through the early days following his death called, "For Grief" by John O'Donohue. See poem below.

We are aiming to raise $6500 in his memory to cover the costs associated with installation. Once the fireplace is installed, we will invite everyone to come visit and place the official plaque with a special ceremony to honor Erick. 

When you lose someone you love,
Your life becomes strange,
The ground beneath you gets fragile,
Your thoughts make your eyes unsure;
And some dead echo drags your voice down
Where words have no confidence.
Your heart has grown heavy with loss;
And though this loss has wounded others too,
No one knows what has been taken from you
When the silence of absence deepens.

Flickers of guilt kindle regret
For all that was left unsaid or undone.

There are days when you wake up happy;
Again inside the fullness of life,
Until the moment breaks
And you are thrown back
Onto the black tide of loss.

Days when you have your heart back,
You are able to function well
Until in the middle of work or encounter,
Suddenly with no warning,
You are ambushed by grief.

It becomes hard to trust yourself.
All you can depend on now is that
Sorrow will remain faithful to itself.
More than you, it knows its way
And will find the right time
To pull and pull the rope of grief
Until that coiled hill of tears
Has reduced to its last drop.

Gradually, you will learn acquaintance
With the invisible form of your departed;
And, when the work of grief is done,
The wound of loss will heal
And you will have learned
To wean your eyes
From that gap in the air
And be able to enter the hearth
In your soul where your loved one
Has awaited your return
All the time.