Seven Gen Community Mourns 7th-Grader, Seeks Help for Family

Members of the Seven Generations Charter School community were notified on Monday about the death of one of their classmates, 7th-grader Jonathan Melendez Jr., 12.

Melendez' family is seeking financial help with his funeral expenses through an online fundraising tool called GiveForward. The link to that fundraising effort was posted on the Speak Out boards on Emmaus Patch Tuesday evening under the headline "Help Support a Seven Generations Charter School family pay for their 12 year old son's funeral."

At the time of this writing, the campaign had raised $8,022 of its $10,000 goal, through a total of 174 separate donations.

Here's what Jonathan Melendez Sr. posted on the GiveForward site Tuesday night:

"The last few days have been a nightmare for our families. Something we never thought would happen to us. We lost our beloved angel, Jonathan Melendez Jr. He was a great kid with so much love and so much character. He was taken way too soon from us and now he's in heaven smiling, watching over us.  

"I want to thank all of you for your support, for your kind words and for your prayers. It's amazing to see the love in our town and the strength of our community. Thank you all for the love and for your donations. It means more than what you'll ever know.

Love,

Jon Melendez Sr."