Mitchell Hash passed away on June 14, 2015 in Crozet, Virginia. The 28 year old was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps and a University of Virginia graduate, whose mom describes as the life of the party.

“Mitchell was a good boy,” she said. “He could light up a room, we miss him a lot. A whole lot.” She said the shock of her son’s death rocked her family to its core.

“Mitchell had everything to live for;” she said. “So that person who you may think has everything to live for, it’s not necessarily what’s going on in their head.”

Although the grief threatened to consumer her, Mitchell’s mom, Cynthia, felt the need to channel it into something positive.

“We couldn’t deal with the grief unless we were able to help others,” she explained. And that’s what she’s doing now.