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HIGH POINT — Felipe and Maria Maldonado came to the United States 12 years ago to live their dream.

They fled their native Mexico and lived their first weeks stateside in a van in Arizona before being lured to North Carolina, where they found jobs and started a family in High Point.

They had three children together, were deeply in love and, with little money, they worked hard to provide for their family as best they could.

Everything changed on April 23, when Maria Maldonado went to a church to pick up food donations to feed her family.

As she and two friends drove west on East Green Drive, a car ran a red light at Brentwood Street and struck their minivan.

The minivan flipped several times, throwing Maldonado onto the street, where she died.

The car that hit them sped off.

In the minivan were Maldonado’s three children — 11-year-old Isis and 4-year-old twins Venus and Yavé — and three other children, including a friend’s infant.

The six children and two surviving adults were rushed to local hospitals. They were treated and released in the days after the wreck.

Police charged Timothy Lane Meadows, 32, and his passenger Shelly Elizabeth Bowen, 23, with involuntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.

Meadows also faces DWI and hit-and-run charges.

Maria’s body was buried in her native town of Puerta Vallarata, Mexico, earlier this month. Odds are, her children won’t be able to visit their mother’s grave any time soon.

That’s a notion their neighbors won’t stand for. They want to keep Maria’s memory a little closer to home for her family, and they plan to build a memorial garden in their small apartment complex off Sales Street.

“It had to impact them hard,” Ayana Elon, a neighbor, said of Maldonado’s children. “I (recently) lost my father. ... I have the option to visit my father’s grave, but they aren’t going to have that option. I hope they have a place to find solace and somewhere outside the apartment to think about Maria.”

Elon said her landlord has given permission to build the garden, while other neighbors have pledged to assist with construction and maintenance.

But money is tight — and the neighbors are asking for donations of materials to get the project under way.

They are looking for a bird feeder, birdseed, flowers, mulch, bushes, paving bricks and whatever else they can scrounge to ensure that a loving mother is not forgotten.

“Her kids were always with her, and she was very loving,” Elon said. “Venus was always under her. It was hard for her when we took her to see Maria in the casket. ... As we were pulling her away, she started to cry. ... She wanted to stay with her mom.”

With the assistance of family and friends, Felipe Maldonado is working to feed and take care of his three children on his own now.

He said he has forgiven the driver of the other car.

“Maria was a good woman, wife and my friend,” Maldonado said in Spanish during an interview translated by his oldest daughter Tuesday.

“She was the prettiest woman on the inside and out. The only thing that has kept us going is the memory of her. (The garden) will be due to the kindness of our neighbors and I am thankful for all of the people helping us.” 

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com