There is a VFW named in honor of the young man from the picture above and each year scholarships are awarded in his memory. His name is Marvin Lee Ferguson Jr. He was my great uncle and he was also the first casualty of war from Walker County, Alabama when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He was aboard the USS California when it took 3 direct hits and began taking on water. It continued to take on water, until it sank completely and come to rest on the ocean floor.

Like so many other soldiers that day, my uncle's remains were never recovered. My family are strict Southern Baptists. Not having the opportunity to give my uncle Marvin Lee a proper family/Christian burial, haunted my grandmother for the remainder of her life and weights heavily on my mother as well.

My mother is almost 80 years old. When I was a child, she would tell my older sister and I "as soon as I can get you girls grown and out of school, your dad and I are planning a trip to go visit your uncle at Pearl Harbor". She couldn't wait to go hunt up his name on the memorial wall. This day never came for my father. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away less than two months before my graduation. My mother's dream of going to visit my Uncle at Pearl Harbor, died when my father did.

A couple of years ago, I decided I would try to give her a trip to Hawaii as a gift. This woman is 80 years old, has given selflessly her entire life but has never been further than 200 miles away from her home. If anyone deserves this, it would be her. Then, last Christmas (2018), she made the comment "I always wanted to go to Pearl Harbor. It just wasn't in the cards for this lifetime". I made a promise to myself I would get her there one way or another.

In 2018 my mom was in great shape and I thought I had plenty of time to save money for this event. Since then, her health has deteriorated significantly. She has had a couple of strokes due to her Carotid arteries being blocked. She underwent surgery to clear out the plaque in one side, but the doctors had a hard time bringing her out of anesthesia. He decided it would be too dangerous to attempt the other side. Meaning that they managed to reduce her chances of having another stroke, but the likely hood of another is extremely high still. Other than her strokes, she is a Type II Diabetic. She is on insulin and is having trouble getting it under control. She has had to have 2 toes amputated so far. She also has a degenerative joint disorder. This causes her to be in extreme pain most of the time and lastly, is her memory. She started showing signs of Dementia about 8 months ago.

I feel like I'm in a race against time now. Even though I have taken on a second job to make this happen for her, life keeps preventing me from reaching that goal. Recently, a tree limb fell on my mother's house and pierced 3 large holes in her roof. I paid the $1500 home owner's insurance deductible and then paid an additional $2400 to have the remainder of the rotted tree cut down before the rest of it took out her bedroom.

I have looked into possible grants or nonprofit organizations who may help with this type of situation, but I've found nothing. I have asked about free or discounted military flights, but neither of us qualify as a military family member. I am open to any and all suggestions.

I have never asked for help like this before. I'm new to crowdfunding. I felt like there were too many scammers on these sites. That's why I have decided to keep everyone in the loop on what I'm planning and where each Penny will be going. After the trip is paid for, the remaining donations used, will go straight into an account to start my own nonprofit organization offering other's the resources I have been unable to find for my mother.