Dee Dwyer, Jeremy Ives / DCist/WAMU, The Dojo Studios
Patricia Pinckney and Tasha Jones lost their sons to gun violence on June 19. And in addition to grieving, they have had to spend much of the last two weeks stressed about money.
The two women, who are sisters, were of course unprepared for the grief of losing their sons, 15-year-old Demarcos Pinckney and 17-year-old Kevin Mason — two young cousins who have seven combined siblings, along with a tight-knit group of neighborhood friends. The two were killed by gunfire directed towards a residence on Langston Place SE following a Father’s Day celebration; the two boys were standing outside, and authorities have not said whether they were targeted or not.
Their mothers were also unprepared for all of the costs that have come in the aftermath of the tragedy. The two sisters are short about $20,000 for the joint burial of their boys, and a fundraiser has been set up online to help them raise money.
“I understand we should all have life insurance, but we don’t expect nothing like this to happen,” says Pinckney, Demarcos’s mother. “This is an extra layer of hurt, because on top of going through burying your child, you also have to worry about how you’re going to come up with the money to bury your child.”
Their struggle is a common one in D.C. and across the country, as funerals have become costly and families are often forced to make decisions about arrangements under emotional duress and time pressure. According to a survey...
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