Their Hour of Need

No mother should have to bury her child.  Laura Pendleton is faced with this horror, only to find the funeral expenses to lay her beloved Amarria to rest are greater than the family can bear.  According to WWBT News, an account to accept donations has been set up at Wells Fargo under the name "Amarria Johnson Fund".

I found out today that the information was not entirely accurate, and the bank will not be able to look up the account without her mother's name.  If you'd like to help the family, here's what you need to do:

• Go to any Wells Fargo branch and fill out a counter deposit slip for Laura Pendleton, Chesterfield, VA, and whatever amount you would like to donate.
• From this information the teller will be able to look her up on the computer.  Let the teller know, either verbally or by writing on the deposit slip, that the account it should go into is the "Amarria Johnson Fund".
• The teller WILL NOT be able to give you the account number, but will fill it in on the deposit slip and give you a receipt.

Wells Fargo does have free online banking and transaction imaging.  I have no idea whether Laura Pendleton will ever pull up the online images of the deposits made into the account, but in case she does, I wrote a little note on the front of the deposit slip.

We can't bring Amarria back, but we can make sure Laura Pendleton knows she is not alone, and that the food allergy community grieves with her.  Let's give her all the love and support we can.

Many thanks to Tiffany Glass Ferreira of Food Allergy Fun who lives in the Richmond, Virginia, area and has kept me up to date on this tragedy.


Update:  More thanks to Thanita Glancey of the Loudoun Allergy Network of Virginia for sharing this link to Amarria's obituary and online guestbook, where messages can be left for the family.