Friends raise funds for UNC dental student Sergio Acero's funeral

He spoke softly, but his words carried a lot of weight.

Family and friends have found a way to honor dentistry student Sergio Acero, 26, after he died from complications following a motorcycle accident March 1.

In a way that they feel was reminiscent of his carefully-thought-out words, two different groups chose to remember their friend by setting up fundraising pages on gofundme.com to raise money in support of his funeral cost for his family.

According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the median cost of a funeral in 2012 was $7,045. Each gofundme.com site raised more than $3,000 and together totaled $6,994.

Gofundme.com is a popular fundraising website that helps individuals raise money for various causes. Two sites were set up in order to raise money for Acero’s funeral.

One was established by Jamal Blocker, a friend of Acero, and is entitled “Support the Acero Family!!! Heels United.”

Ignacio Acosta and Rizwan Peera, who are national officers of the La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, set up the fundraising page entitled “Hermano Sergio Acero.”

“We set up the page to give our members a central place to come together in order to support Hermano Sergio Acero’s family,” Acosta said.

Acero was a member of the Alpha Iota Chapter of Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc. Member Gil Gonzalez said the national council of the fraternity reached out to UNC’s chapter in order to set up a fundraising page.

Gonzalez said he knew about the other fundraising page, but the Lambda Upsilon Lambda goal was to allow fraternity brothers across the United States to express their sentiments.

“Our fundraising page was set up so brothers across the nation could contribute monetarily, given that they wouldn’t be able to attend the funeral,” Gonzalez said.

The Beta Lambda Chapter of Omega Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. is a multicultural–based, Latina-oriented organization. Member Daisy Kaur said everyone made a small donation to the page as well as a larger one for the group.

“I almost wasn’t even surprised by how much money the page raised because (Acero) was such a good person. I’m really happy it was raised to help his family,” Kaur said.

Dentistry student Joshua Blake was a close friend of Sergio’s who donated to the page established by Blocker. He said in an email that it was great that so many people were willing to donate.

“Every dollar raised can be used to help Sergio’s family and keep his spirit of giving alive. The amount of people who have given already really is a testament to how many lives Sergio touched while he was here,” Blake said.

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