An anonymous donor gave $25,000 to the Roots of Music after hearing about a local mother's emotional obituary for her murdered son.
Roots of Music is an after-school program that offers mentoring and music operations for young children. Suzanne Raether, the group's interim managing director, said that the gift was received after Robert Wells III's obituary was published on February 23, both online and in The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate.
Wells, who was 22, was gunned down on February 16 in the driveway of a home in Harahan. His mother, Deborah Wells, was inspired to write an emotional obituary which denounced the bad lifestyle that she believes led to her only son's death.
Deborah's heartbreaking obituary went viral on social media. In it, she asked for a small donation to be made to any groups whose priority it is to help at-risk youth. After learning about the donations to Roots of Music, Deborah Wells was incredibly overwhelmed by the kindness that everyone had shown in response to the obituary.
Roots of Music is the perfect program for the donation to go to in honor of Wells, as it is described as a youth development and crime prevention program which uses music to mentor children. Wells' death is the type of tragedy that the program strives to prevent.
Deborah Wells is hopeful that her son's life may encourage an end to violence and teach understanding and acceptance.
