High emotions as donations made in memory of Black Country schoolgirl
The memory of a Black Country schoolgirl has been honoured through charity donations and a memorial garden.
Santino and Michelle Sellick joined up with pupils and teachers at Wightwick Hall School in Wolverhampton to present a cheque for £3,500 as part of a fund to remember their daughter Maria, who died suddenly from cardiac arrest in November last year.
The presentation was part of a tea and coffee morning being done at the school to raise funds for the memorial garden for the 17-year-old, with her father Santino saying he had been touched by the generosity of the community and described how he decided to raise funds for the school.
He said: "For us, every day is a nightmare and very emotional, so it's good for us to be able to take this terrible situation and keep her memory alive in a positive way.
"We knew that Maria loved going to school and was very close to all elements of the school, treating them like an extended family, so we knew how important it was for the school to have funds to be able to put on funds for the pupils.
"The school helps pupils with a range of difficulties, both mental and physical, so it was important for us to be able to do something and generate some funds to be able to put a smile of the faces of the pupils in the name of Maria's legacy."
Mr Sellick said he had set up a GoFundMe page and notified people across the community, including at his gym Ironmasters in Bilston, and had seen hundreds of people make donations to the fund, including some people making donations of £500 and more.
He said the presentation had been a very emotional affair, with teachers and pupils fighting back tears, and said that the plan going forward was for the money raised to go into a special pot for Maria's legacy.
He said: "We said that Maria loved the theatre, so we would like to see some of the funding go towards that, but the pot is there for Maria's legacy and we've said that for anything that has expenditure, we'd like it to come from that.
"Everyday is a nightmare for us and very emotional, so we wanted to take this terrible situation and keep her memory alive in a positive way, so it can bring a smile to children's faces.
"The school have also shown us the area for the memorial garden, which looks beautiful, and what is especially poignant is that there will be trees overlooking it blossoming with purple flowers, which was Maria's favourite colour, so it's nice to know she will always have that."
To find out more and to make a donation to the GoFundMe page, go to gofundme.com/f/marias-legacy
