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Thursday 15 May 2014

Strangers find family's balloon-tied notes to deceased California mom, raise money for funeral

Renee Finney, a mother of three, died May 5 in her Monreno Valley home, but her children didn't have enough money to pay for a proper burial. When a stranger found letters the family sent to their mom tied on helium balloons, she stepped in to help fund-raise for the funeral.


Karries Finney and her two siblings wrote letters to their mom and sent them to the sky on balloons just days after Renee Finney died. A stranger who found the balloons has helped raise $2,000 for Finney’s funeral.
Karries Finney and her two siblings wrote letters to their mom and sent them to the sky on balloons just days after Renee Finney died. A stranger who found the balloons has helped raise $2,000 for Finney’s funeral.

Karries Finney and her two siblings wrote letters to their mom and sent them to the sky on balloons just days after Renee Finney died. A stranger who found the balloons has helped raise $2,000 for Finney’s funeral.
When a California mom died just days before Mother's Day, a grieving family sent her letters attached to helium balloons.
Now, those same balloons have helped the family raise thousands for their mother's funeral.
According to her obituary, Renee Finney had been battling cancer for more than a year when she died May 5 in her Monreno Valley home. One of her daughters had found the 42-year-old's body the next day, San Diego’s 10News reported.
She left behind three children, but the family didn't have enough money to cover a proper funeral.
Over Mother's Day weekend, they raised $2,000 through bakes sales and car washes.
But a funeral costs $10,000.

The family was still grieving, too.
A family friend encouraged Finney's children to write Mother's Day letters to their mom and send them up to the sky with balloons.
On Sunday, the children wrote about how they missed their mom and how they were sorry she hadn't been buried yet.
One of Jerry Halamunda's employees, Yvette Melton, found the balloons. The two decided they had to help. KMGH One of Jerry Halamunda's employees, Yvette Melton, found the balloons. The two decided they had to help.
"At first I thought they were really dumb, like she's not going to get them," Finney's 18-year-old daughter, Davion, told 10News. "But if we didn't put the balloons outside at 8:30 last night, we would still be here worrying about how to save up money to bury my mom the right way."
The next day, the balloons landed on Yvette Melton's doorstep, 30 miles away in Murrieta, Calif.
She told her boss, Jerry Halamunda, and the two decided they had to help.
"The one part of the letter that really grabbed us was, 'We know you are up in heaven but we don't have any money to bury you,'" Halamunda told 10News. "Let's make this happen."
So far, the family has raised $2,000 and Halamunda's employees have raised another $2,000. The family needs $10,000 for a funeral. KMGH So far, the family has raised $2,000 and Halamunda's employees have raised another $2,000. The family needs $10,000 for a funeral.
Employees at Fallbrook-based Color Spot Nurseries pitched in to raise $2,000 in just a few hours.
Halamunda said he's working on raising more.
"You want to bury your mother the right way, you want to glorify your mother," Finney's oldest daughter, 25-year-old Karries, told the TV station. "It means everything to my family."

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