Boy Scout helps create memorial for mothers who have lost a baby

"It is perfect," says Cora Villanueva as she overlooks a peaceful garden memorial built for mothers who lost a baby before or at birth.

A statue of a woman holding a child to her chest, surrounded by a cement platform, a single bench and plants, is now part of the Little Hearts Remembrance Garden at the Mueller's Funeral Home in Kennewick. But the project couldn't have been completed without the help of a 13-year-old Boy Scout.

Cora Villanueva wanted to honor her husband, Dr. Isagani Villanueva, by donating a statue to Trio Health in September of 2017, but the hospital didn't have space on campus. Instead, the Trios Foundation reached out to Mueller's Funeral Home, which found an area for the statue. They also enlisted 13-year-old Ashton Chan, who was in need of an Eagle Scout project, to help make the garden memorial a reality.

"I helped design everything and put stuff in, the plants, the bench, the rock too. I went around and fundraised a little bit and got all the donors and all their names and we etched it into the rock," says Chan.

Chan says he then asked some of his fellow Scouts to help dig out a base for the concrete and plant the foliage. Trios Health says Chan raised just over $1,400 in donations for the project.

Villanueva says the finished area is just what her husband would have wished for.

"This is just a perfect tribute to him and I know he could be up there looking at us," says Villanueva.

Dr. Isagani Villanueva past away 10 years ago. He worked at Trio Health as an OBGYN for 20 years.

A dedication ceremony for the garden memorial will be open to the public on Thursday, March 1st, 2018, at 3:30 p.m. at Mueller's Funeral Home Desert Lawn Memorial Park.