A group of Board members and close friends gathered at Carmen Ziegler’s house in Glen Ellyn, Illinois on Thursday, August 27, 2026 to assemble a total of 200 Alyssa Starter Art Kits (SAKs). Carmen has been a board member since the inception of Alyssa’s foundation which was established December 2014. Yoli and George Alvin flew from their home in Florida to participate in this special volunteer event and plan to personally deliver the donation to local chicagoland medical facilities.
AAFH’s board member, Mary Jane Johnson and her husband Larry also volunteered and close friends Nancy Nunez (Alyssa’s godmother), Marina Herrera, Tim Egan, Chris Coconate and her husband Johnny. It was a warm summer evening and twe were able to assemble the Alyssa Starter Art Kits (SAKs) on the patio of Carmen’s home. In total, 100 coloring book and 100 journal kits were prepared to be donated to 4 locations.
The following day, Friday, August 28th, Carmen, Marina, Nancy, and Yoli delivered 50 SAKs to Loyola Children’s Hospital in Maywood and 50 SAKs to the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) near Loyola.
The final 100 SAKs were donated and delivered to Shirley Ryan Ability Lab (50) and RMH near Lurie Children’s Hospital (50) on Saturday, August 29, 2026, On that day, Daniel Guerrero-Alyssa’s cousin and AAFH board member and Kevin Cervantes-Alyssa’s Loyola College friend and previous AAFH board member joined Yoli to make these donations.
While all the stops were familiar places for us, we pend some additional time at the RMH near Lurie’s. This is where we spent many days and nights during Alyssa’s illness and we have bittersweet memories of Alyssa at this place. Often, Alyssa liked us to sit with her at the RHM rooftop deck and gaze out over the beautiful Chicago skyline and lakefront. After Alyssa passed on to her eternal life, we sponsored a stepping stone in her memory and had it engraved with her name and the musical instruments she played so beautifully in her life on earth – the piano and violin.
We can only imagine the beautiful music she continues to make in the heavenly orchestra where she now resides.
If you find it in your heart that you would like to help the children we serve, consider a donation to our cause by clicking HERE. Thank you!
