TRELLA FOUNDATION
Raises More Than $ 12,000 for Scholarships, Charity
Two years after his passing, Michael Trella’ s family continues to honor his memory by helping others.
“ THE PLAN WAS TO HELP OTHERS IN ANY REGARD AND PROVIDE SOME SCHOLARSHIPS IN MOON TOWNSHIP. WE GAVE OUT SOME SCHOLARSHIPS AND HELPED SOME PEOPLE IN NEED, BUT WE’ VE ALSO BECOME MORE FOCUSED AND FIRMED UP OUR IDENTITY.”
While many people donned fancy hats and went out to watch Justify eventually win the 144th Kentucky Derby, nearly 250 people were in Imperial at the SNPJ Lodge raising money for I Love You More / The Michael Trella Foundation, which just left the starting gates itself.
Named for Michael Trella, who passed away unexpectedly in his sleep in October 2016, at the age of 15, the foundation’ s goal is to“ show the kindness Michael expressed by raising money to support others in need.”
Mark Trella, Michael’ s father, says the nascent foundation is off to a great start, and has been evolving in the past year and a half to solidify its mission.
“ The plan was to help others in any regard and provide some scholarships in Moon Township. We gave out some scholarships and helped some people in need, but we’ ve also become more focused and firmed up our identity,” he says.
The people the foundation focuses on helping are parents who lose children, like the Trellas, and don’ t expect what comes next.“ When you lose a child, you don’ t expect that. Even in the case of a sick child, you don’ t make plans for a funeral; you worry about your child getting better,” Trella explains.“ No parent should ever worry about how much it’ s going to cost them, or be limited financially in terms of the type of arrangements they need to grieve. If they want an interment in a mausoleum, they should have that option. They should be able to give their child the best. That’ s one arm of the foundation. The other arm is focused on school and scholarships. We want to grow the foundation to not only fund the grieving parents, but bolster the scholarships.
We’ d eventually like to reach out to local universities and set up scholarships in Michael’ s name and grow it beyond this little world we’ re in.”
He notes that Michael’ s passing brought the family an outpouring of support from Moon residents as well as people from all over the region who had no connection at all.
“ Moon Township was huge as far as support, but we had people from South Fayette and Upper St. Clair reaching out to us too. People just reached out, and it was an amazing thing to see, just the people who came out to be there for us,” Trella says.“ It doesn’ t change that hole you have in your heart. Our lives will never be the same, but it helps you with managing things you’ re not ready to manage. It allowed us to grieve without having to worry about ancillary things. To be functional. We’ re still here, and now we’ re trying to get back to the community, and to keep Michael’ s memory alive by helping others. That’ s the kind of kid he was.”
The Kentucky Derby event will continue to be the foundation’ s main fundraising vehicle. The Trellas do other smaller fundraisers, like participate in the Amazon Smile program, which donates portions of sales to charities, but Trella says he wants to focus on one big event each year. And, if you didn’ t make this year’ s event, mark your 2019 calendar for a gala like no other. The event includes bidding on races throughout the day and culminates with the big Derby race. Participants enjoy mint juleps, a silent auction, live entertainment and more. If you want to donate to the foundation, or find out more, go to trella27. com. ■
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