Yellow Heart Memorial remembers those who passed from COVID-19

The Yellow Heart Memorial in San Bernardino unveiled its new memorial at the city’s Parks and Recreation center on 201 North E Street. The memorial is open to the public from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Yellow Heart Memorial is a non-profit organization that aims to remember those who died from Covid as not mere statistics but as people.

The memorial honors loved ones by putting their name or picture on a yellow heart and posting them on the wall that features roughly 1,000 hearts already.

Yvette Rodriguez, a native of San Bernardino, created the Yellow Heart Memorial in San Bernardino; she got the idea after she lost her mother this January to COVID-19.

“Seeing her take her last breath broke my heart, but I told her I’d honor her,” expressed Rodriguez.

In the months following her mother’s passing, Yvette would honor her mother by posting videos on Facebook and Tik Tok to raise awareness of COVID-19.

One of her videos caught the eye of an advocate of Yellow Heart Memorial and they reached out to Rodriguez.

“Nancy Gallegos found me because they wanted to use a video I had posted. She then told me of Yellow Heart Memorial and what they do,” said Rodriguez.

Discovering Yellow Heart Memorial helped Rodriguez with her grieving.

“I read millions of posts on Yellow Heart Memorial’s Facebook page, and seeing that I was feeling what others were feeling and vice versa, I found comfort,” shared Rodriguez.

Not only was she able to find comfort in Yellow Heart Memorial, but Rodriguez found the perfect way to honor her mother and others that passed because of COVID-19.

With the idea to honor those lost to COVID-19, Rodriguez started making yellow hearts to post in her backyard. However, as she was doing this it started to rain, ruining any plan of that happening.

“After the rain ruined my home memorial, I reached out to the City of San Bernardino and let them know of my idea. A member of City Hall said to give them a week, but it took about two months for a response,” said Rodriguez.

“Then April Flores of Parks and Rec reached out to me and gave me the ok to have the memorial up as long as I’d like,” she added.

Now with the Yellow Heart Memorial in the Parks and Rec center, Rodriguez can not only honor her mother, but others lost to Covid.

“Doing this memorial is doing what I told my mom I’d do, honor her and keep her name alive. I want to honor everyone’s loved ones that passed away to this evil virus,” shared Rodriguez.

With the focus on honoring loved ones, Rodriguez hopes that this project will also help raise awareness.

“I want to put awareness in my city that this virus is here and killing our loved ones,” explained Rodriguez.

While raising awareness and honoring Covid victims is the idea behind the memorial, Rodriguez knows without her mother this wouldn’t be possible.

“I will miss you forever and I am going to make you proud of me. Your name will be seen and heard everywhere, you aren’t just a number,” shared Rodriguez

If interested in having a loved one’s picture or name posted on a yellow heart, email yellowheartemorialCA@gmail.com with the name or picture of your loved one.

To obtain a silhouette contact Hannah Schoenfeld-Ernest on Facebook.

Throughout her creation of the memorial, Rodriguez has used only out-of-pocket funds, so if you’d like to donate to her cause and Yellow Heart memorial visit yellowheartmemorial.com.