Family in Need

May 9, 2020

Dear Ballantyne families,

As many of you know, Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors in Need has been intensely focused in recent weeks on families in our community struggling due to COVID-19. But we have become aware of a family in our area that is struggling for a different reason, and I’m asking you to take a moment to learn about them and consider helping.

On May 1, Karen and Carlos Pagan, the parents of Antonio, Alex and Angel Pagan died suddenly. Angel is a seventh grader at Community House Middle School. Alex is a freshman at Central Piedmont Community College and Antonio will finish his final two courses for his bachelor’s degree in business at UNC Charlotte this summer. Alex and Antonio are graduates of Ardrey Kell High School and Community House.

The boys have extended family in the area who are assisting them, but the road ahead is rocky and financially unstable. The family is working on funeral arrangements with the hope of burying Karen and Carlos next week. They could really use our help through donations to their Venmo account (@PaganBrothers-Fund) and GoFundMe account (If you haven’t used GoFundMe lately, there’s a way to change the default percentage GoFundMe takes from your donation, so it isn’t as large.)

https://tinyurl.com/PaganBrothersGoFundMe

To further support this family, we thought it might be helpful to also supply them with restaurant and gas gift cards and notes of encouragement, especially with Mother’s Day this weekend. You can drop them off or mail them to the home of Haven Fogarty, 9530 Oswald Lane, Charlotte, NC 28277. If you are dropping things off, please look for a box outside Haven’s door or email Haven at havenjulianne@gmail.com. Haven is a neighbor of the Pagans and has kindly agreed to be a central point of contact for our community so we don’t overwhelm the Pagans during this difficult time.

Thank you in advance for your love and support for the Pagan family. We don’t yet know the details of how their parents died (it does not appear to be related to Covid-19), but the current situation is clear: their three sons need our help. Every act of kindness, from writing a note to an offering of financial support, will make a positive difference as this family tries to heal from this tragedy.

So grateful for you and our community!

Stay safe and healthy,

Heather

PS - to see periodic updates about the Pagan family, you can go to the Facebook page - Ballantyne Families Helping Neighbors in Need