Although her time in physical form has come to an end, my mom’s spirit will forever continue to live on. But for a soul as bright as Toni’s, it’s hard to imagine a world without her in it. How can we bring light back into the darkness that her absence will surely leave?

As she was getting her affairs in order, the topic of what to do with the house came up. For those of you who don’t know, we’ve always viewed the house as “Toni in house form”. It was designed for and by her, she used the space to it’s fullest capacities, and as such it has been forever imbued with her spirit.

After long discussions on what to do with the space, we have decided to transform it into a center for art, health, and education. The specifics have yet to be ironed out, but our vision is to offer daily classes to the local community. These classes will include African dance, yoga, cold water immersion, healthy cooking, pottery, meditation, coding, gardening,…the list goes on and on.

Toni always said that the secret to staying young and enjoying life to the fullest is to learn new things, and we hope to provide a space for the community to do that in a way that honors Toni’s values, hobbies, interests, and guiding principles. We also plan to host charitable events every so often to raise funds for local Evanston and Chicagoland nonprofits doing work that Toni would have supported.

The tentative name so far is the Toni Bark Memorial Foundation. I can’t think of a better way for myself, my family, Toni’s friends, and our community to band together and honor my Mom’s unrelenting dedication to spreading love, knowledge, and being a positive force in the world.

All donations you give here will go directly to creating the Toni Bark Memorial Foundation. We will need to hire nonprofit attorneys, pay state and federal incorporation fees, hire a manager, create a curriculum, and begin renovation to the space so that it can be a proper vehicle for our vision.

With love,
-Ayal

P.S. Please disregard the listed goal amount. The website required me to put in an amount, and $15,000 was the default. Regardless of the final amount we reach, we will be forever grateful of your support in honoring Toni's memory and keeping her values alive. Contribute