{"id":63575,"date":"2025-07-14T00:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T00:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/63575\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T00:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T00:48:10","slug":"gofundme-raises-35000-for-late-councilman-sitivi-faiais-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/63575\/","title":{"rendered":"GoFundMe raises $35,000 for late Councilman Sitivi Faiai’s family"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Sitivi \u201cSteve\u201d Faiai is survived by his wife of over 21 years, Lauren Holmes Faiai, and his two sons, Cameron and Riley. The funds raised will support the \u201cFaiai Four\u201d after the councilmember\u2019s sudden death. (Photo courtesy of GoFundMe)<\/p>\n

The Lemon Grove community<\/a> has raised more than $35,000 on GoFundMe<\/a> to support the family of Sitivi \u201cSteve\u201d Faiai\u2019s family after his sudden death last week.<\/p>\n

The funds will help financially support the first-term council member\u2019s wife and two sons following Faiai\u2019s abrupt death from a heart attack last Tuesday. Faiai, who also went by Steve, was 50.<\/p>\n

Lindsay Holmes, Faiai\u2019s sister-in-law, started the fundraiser the day after the councilmember died because the family\u2019s \u201cfinancial burden will be heavy\u201d from Faiai\u2019s unexpected death.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sister would never want to ask for help, but we all know she\u2019d be the first person to create a GoFundMe for someone who needed it,\u201d Holmes wrote of her sister and Faiai\u2019s wife of over 21 years, Lauren Holmes Faiai. \u201cAny amount given will be an incredible support to the family as we give them space to grieve and process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Faiai was elected to Lemon Grove City Council in November. While he didn\u2019t have a background in politics, Faiai said he was inspired to become a public leader to serve the local children he coached. (Photo courtesy of GoFundMe)<\/p>\n

More than 240 community members have donated to support the \u201cFaiai Four\u201d so far, and the fundraiser is just a couple thousand dollars away away from its goal of $40,000.<\/p>\n

An involved member of the local community, Faiai coached football at Helix High School in La Mesa, worked as an early-morning manager at a Sprouts grocery store and pastored at OB One Church in Ocean Beach<\/a> when he wasn\u2019t at the Lemon Grove City Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis priorities reflected a deep sense of community pride and building a cleaner, safer, and more united Lemon Grove,\u201d the city wrote in a statement<\/a> about Faiai\u2019s death. \u201cCouncilmember Faiai was a bridge-builder, known for listening with humility and moving forward with a purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faiai was elected to the council in November after living in Lemon Grove for four years and in East County for many more. While he didn\u2019t come from a background in politics, he made an impact during his short-lived tenure by focusing on addressing homelessness, public safety and support for children and families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sitivi \u201cSteve\u201d Faiai is survived by his wife of over 21 years, Lauren Holmes Faiai, and his two…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":63576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,5310,4446,20161,1580,12507,24349,9455,3549,7264,45441,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-63575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-city-council","12":"tag-death","13":"tag-east-county","14":"tag-fundraiser","15":"tag-gofundme","16":"tag-lemon-grove","17":"tag-obituary","18":"tag-san-diego","19":"tag-sandiego","20":"tag-sitivi-faiai","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114848838815355834","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}