Thanks to a $750 donation from an Independent reader, Sonda Whitfield went shopping for a tombstone four months after her 13 year-old daughter was murdered.
A stray bullet killed Jajuana when some kids shot up a party on Dickerman Street in June. Last week Whitfield appealed to Independent readers to help her raise the money to put a tombstone on Jajuana’s grave in Evergreen Cemetery. A reader came through with a money order for $750.
The donor wishes to remain anonymous. Suffice it to say that the donor is someone who every day works to help teens at risk of violence and their families; this was one more way of showing support.
Wearing a jeans and a leather jacket over a Honey Nut Cheerios T‑shirt, Whitfield presented the money order Thursday to Pacific Giordano of Giordano Brothers on Derby Avenue. He told her a tombstone costs $795.
“I need to come back with the difference,” Whitfield said.
“That’s fine,” he said. “I’ll donate the rest.”
Giordano showed Whitfield and her entourage — including her three children and Jajuana’s close friend Tavare (pictured) — various choices.
First Whitfield needed to pick a color. Then they chose a stone. (Click on the play arrow in the video near the top of the article to watch.) Whitfield selected a pink “flush marker” tombstone with a picture of an angel with a lamb. She’s putting Jajuana’s photo on the memorial along with the message, “Our Beautiful Black Queen.” Giordano said the tombstone will be ready for laying in the ground in three to four weeks.