John Ball Zoo gives grieving family free season to honor late mom’s wish
By Elliot Grandia
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GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (WXMI) — Jessica Martin and her family visited John Ball Zoo for the first time this month since losing her mother to cancer earlier this year — and they did it with a little help from the zoo itself.
Before her cancer diagnosis, Martin’s mother had purchased the entire family a zoo membership. She never got to use it.
“She was kind of upset that we never, like, made it here, and she would talk about it a lot,” Martin said.
After her mother, Michelle Martin, went into the hospital following Christmas, her condition declined. She passed away after a battle with cancer.
Martin said her mother had always wanted to find things to do with the family.
“We’d always like to find things to do with the kids, and this is something she really wanted to do,” Martin said.
When the zoo learned of the family’s story, it took little time to act.
“I think when Mary first brought the story to me, it only took us about half a second to decide we wanted to offer to extend the membership for a year,” John Ball Zoo Membership Manager Erin Vargo said.
The zoo offered Martin and her family a full season of visits — free of charge.
“We wanted to be able to even make this family’s day even 1% brighter if we could,” Vargo said.
For Martin, the visit carried deep meaning.
“This is just so amazing,” Martin said.
Martin said she could feel her mother’s presence during the visit and plans to return to the zoo many more times this season.
“I can just feel like her smiling right now, and is like so proud that we finally made it here, and we can do that this summer,” Martin said.
If you’d like to visit or explore membership rates, that information can be found on the zoo’s website.
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