Team José initially served as a way for José and Jen to keep friends and family updated while also advocating for others living with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). With his passing, we're transitioning to becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports people living with ALS to tell their stories, build community, and live with comfort and dignity.
💝 Fulfilling José's final wishes
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If you knew José later in his adult life, you likely knew that he was a great lover of art of all kinds–most notably various performing arts and blown glass–and he was also incredibly proud of the many pieces he had personally collected. As I've just shared on the blog, this month I will be organizing an online auction to fulfill the last remaining request from José's final wishes: for much of that art to be used to raise funds for an internship program in his honor at Hawai‘i Public Radio. I'd originally hoped to do this in May in honor of ALS Awareness Month but wasn't able to make it happen then. Instead, my hope is to officially launch the auction on Friday, Sept. 12, in honor of his birthday. This message is meant to serve as a heads-up of what's coming, and to hold me accountable to making it happen. So... please expect to hear from me again on Friday! At that time, once the auction link is available, your help spreading the word to folks who knew and loved José is greatly appreciated. in gratitude, |
Team José | #TeamJosé
Team José initially served as a way for José and Jen to keep friends and family updated while also advocating for others living with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). With his passing, we're transitioning to becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports people living with ALS to tell their stories, build community, and live with comfort and dignity.
Sharing one more update regarding the recent online auction to share the happy news that we met our goal! Since the auction ended, SEVEN more pieces from José's art collection have been claimed which has brought the total proceeds to just over $5,000–the goal amount we hoped to add to the FAJARDO STUDENT INTERNSHIP FUND at Hawai‘i Public Radio. Thank you to everyone who made this possible! Since there's a continued slow but steady trickle of inquiries about the art that remains, the page with...
Annddd… that's a wrap! To everyone who bid, shared, commented, sent messages, won something, or made a direct gift to HPR in José's memory, THANK YOU. While there is much I wish I could have done differently that would have required more energy and brain power than I currently have on tap, I'm incredibly happy with our results. As of today, with a few contributions still pending, we raised $4,630.68. While this is a little short of our goal, we still have some items that were not bid on in...
From our early dating life through our travels, José and I shared a love of museums. I think this was the first photo I took of him viewing art and it quickly became a thing. I have dozens of images like this of him in his "art viewing stance" - and while this first one was captured unbeknownst to him, it became an inside joke for us + the camera. As of this moment, we've entered the final seven hours of the auction (77% to goal!) and I'm going to try to share a few more photos of him today...