Although just 20 years old at the time of his death, Lompoc native Chris Zahuta and his service to others will live on in a foundation named after him.
His mother, Christie Jeffers of Santa Ynez, said this week that the 2009 Cabrillo High School graduate had talked about starting a foundation to help others not long before he left for Haiti in early June to help residents continue their recovery from the earthquake that devastated the Caribbean island in January 2010.
It was there that he suffered fatal injuries July 17 in a fall from a rooftop. He was taken off life support at a Miami hospital July 20.
Zahuta was cremated and a memorial service was held July 29 at Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Lompoc, the church his family attended.
While it could take up to a year to establish the foundation, Jeffers said donations in her son’s memory can be made to All Hands Volunteers at www.hands.org or by mail to All Hands Volunteers, P.O. Box 546, Carlisle, MA, 01741.
Zahuta had been in Leogane, Haiti, for 61⁄2weeks helping to build and repair homes and schools with nonprofit group All Hands Volunteers, which was founded in 2005 to provide hands-on assistance to survivors of natural disasters worldwide. He was expected to return July 22.
In his short time in Haiti, Zahuta had already made an impact on the people he was helping and had become inspired by the spirit and friendliness of the Haitian people, Jeffers said.
A business and economics major at UC Berkeley, he had talked about changing his studies to sociology and economics as part of a shift toward service to others, she said.
“It was changing his life. I knew he was going to come back different,” Jeffers said.
Toward the end of his school year in April, Zahuta said he wanted to spend his summer helping others instead of attending summer school, Jeffers recalled him saying. He found All Hands Volunteers on the Internet and applied for projects in Japan or Haiti. Assigned to Haiti, he raised $4,000 in three weeks so he could make the seven-week trip.
As an organ donor, Zahuta has already helped two other people — his heart went a Virginia man and his liver to a Florida man. The surgeries were successful, but it remains to be seen whether the organs have been accepted by the men’s bodies.
Cells from his pancreas will also help several hundred diabetics, his mother said.
Born Dec. 13, 1990, at Lompoc Hospital, Zahuta also attended La Honda School and El Camino Middle School.
At Cabrillo, Zahuta played linebacker and guard on the football team and graduated with honors. He was a team captain his senior year and played all four years at the school. He’d been playing football since he was 7 years old.
Her son aspired to help people and make a difference in their lives, Jeffers said. He regularly donated his rare type AB blood and was always ready to help someone in need, Jeffers said.
“This was a life thing for him,” she said.
She suggests that those who want to honor him should donate blood or give time to help others.
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