Parent establishes foundation in honor of son

“Those who have been helped by the foundation, all we ask for them is to help by paying it forward by doing a little bit of work with us and spread the word about us and to help a loved one so that they don’t have to go through what we did.”

For Luis Tijerina, his job has been to make sure that no one else ever has to go through what he endured.

On Aug. 16, 2009, Luis Tijerina’s son Louie was in a car crash near Floyd Gwin Park. His prognosis worsened over the next nine days and it wasn’t long until he had to pull his son off of life support.

Louie had been a frequent partier and suffered from drug and alcohol abuse before his death.

Luis is hopeful that his son’s foundation can help others seek the aid they need.

This past year, the Louie Tijerina Foundation was set up to help those who need help getting off drug and alcohol abuse and to go through the rehab.

“I had to disconnect him from life support and that’s something that I never thought in my life that I would have to do with one of my kids and to see him go before me,” Luis said. “The foundation is to help make sure no other parent has to go through what I did.”

If people don’t have the money to go through, they’ll put the money up as a nonprofit.

“We do accept donations,” Luis said. “We do have a tax id number. We ask for donations but we also believe in going out and working for it. Those who have been helped by the foundation, all we ask for them is to help by paying it forward by doing a little bit of work with us and spread the word about us and to help a loved one so that they don’t have to go through what we did.”

The foundation took up to three years to achieve 501(c)(3) status. Getting it set up required a lot of paper work and it wasn’t until July of last year when Luis received a notice from Austin that they had become a federally recognized nonprofit organization.

“For the first part, it was certainly a lot of paper work,” Luis said. “We got to a point where some things didn’t get done through LegalZoom and I had to step in and take care of things. It took a little bit longer than what we thought would take. It was just a lot of getting paper work done and trying to figure out what our mission was and what we’re going to do as far as the foundation was concerned and trying to help people with drug and alcohol problems and help them to pay for their rehabilitation.”

But getting it set up didn’t come without its nervy moments for Luis.

“There was a lot of anxiety and I have to fill my mind with the process of the foundation and setting up brochures and we hired a grant writer to see if we can get a grant,” Luis said. “All these kind of things, we did, I had to keep my mind occupied. But I also forced myself to focus on the other things that would make us a foundation like designing a website so that we can put it online and get all the other things done to go along with that. We had to set up credit card submissions and be able to do PayPal and all the things that we can get donations and people could donate. It makes it a lot easier for us to have those transactions.”

Luis has explored different ways to raise funds for the foundation. One of which includes selling plants.

Luis, who’s an avid gardener, has been busy raising crops this year for the foundation. The money that is raised from any of the produce that he sells will go towards the foundation.

For him, his backyard has become a place for him to meditate.

“Every free moment that I have, I’ve spent back here in the backyard and I do a lot of thinking and to put things into perspective and ideas for the foundation and raising funds to make the money come in so that we can help someone get off the drug and alcohol abuse and go through the rehab,” Luis said.

Luis is also a Native American chief.

He’s talked to a few people about their addictions and has helped point them in the right direction, sometimes through emails and letters.

He’s also helped out other Native Americans who have gone through addictions. One of which was from Arizona.

“He couldn’t get away from it,” Luis said. “He was convinced that he needed to commit himself to an alcohol anonymous program and came through that program. He sent me a follow up letter and said that ‘I couldn’t have done this without you and the support that you gave me.’”

In addition, he’s also published three books about Native American heritage and culture.

“When I sell those books, the proceeds go to the foundation,” Luis said.

But as the foundation continues to grow and help people out, Luis says it has also given his son’s death meaning.

“It’s not something that everyone does or has to do when faced with this sudden death and ripping away from a loved one,” Luis said. “There has to be something that makes it worthwhile. And this is what it is for me. It helps me to carry that load. It doesn’t make it any easier. I’ll never get over it. But it does make it better for me to say that I helped that parent go through something that I went through.”

>> Follow Michael Bauer on Twitter at @OAmichaelba

Michael Bauer is a sports reporter at the Odessa American. He can be reached at mbauer@oaoa.com at 432-333-7772 or on Twitter @OAmichaelba.