GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The family of a 20-year-old Grand Rapids man who was shot and killed is holding a food fundraiser to help pay the expenses of his funeral.
Martín Eduardo Martinez-Ramirez was found dead inside a vehicle on Wing Avenue in Kentwood early on Jan. 27.
Instead of having the time to process the loss and mourn him, his family has been organizing a GoFundMe page and a food fundraiser just so they have enough money to bury him.
The food fundraiser will be held on Sunday, Feb. 4 at Maggie's Kitchen in Grand Rapids. It will begin at 10 a.m. at 636 Bridge Street NW and run until everything is sold out.
There will be flautas de pollo with rice, mole of chicken with rice, shrimp cocktail, tamales and more. The drink menu will consist of Coke products, water, and horchata.
They will only take cash at the fundraiser, no card.
Martinez-Ramirez's older sister, Pilar Martinez, said as the oldest sibling much of the responsibility in organizing funeral arrangements has fallen on her shoulders.
"As the oldest sibling, it's just my job just to take care of the family," Martinez said. "It was always a shared a shared responsibility. But now it's on me. I know he's giving me strength, trying to get all the funeral arrangements that honor him as best as I can."
She said her brother was her best friend, and someone she could lean on — so much so, that often she felt like the younger one.
"As an older sibling it hurts so much, because for most of his life I took care of him, but, towards the last few years, I don't even know at what moment, he became the bigger brother," Martinez said. "He always protected me."
She said her brother spent his time at school, the gym, studying the bible, working and cooking — always staying out of trouble.
Now, her family is being forced to arrange a funeral for their only son.
"My whole life I always feared death," Martinez said. "I always feared, you know, grandparents. We have we have pets, we have bunnies. I feared that. But I never thought that I would have to plan my brother's funeral."
She said she hopes this food fundraiser will help take some of the stress off of her family during this time.
"Aside from the emotional distress, the emotional pain, life doesn't stop, unfortunately," Martinez said. "We're not working right now, because we have so much to do. We have two younger sisters that we still have to stay strong for. And the support is just so important because it'll help cover his funeral."
Martinez said she knows her brother would love the event, and would be happy to join in on the cooking and the time with his community if he were still here.
"He'd be happy that so many people are helping that are cooking," Martinez said. "First of all, I know if my brother was here, he'd be in the kitchen, making things. So yeah, coming back together, doing what he loves for him, helping the community. That's just who he was."
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