Erica Tremblay Shea, a member of the class of 2000 at Coventry High, began her work on behalf of children with HIV/AIDS.

When Erica was in ninth grade, she decided to raise money for children who were affected by HIV/AIDS and chose to donate the funds she raised to Camp Heartland in Minnesota, a camp for children affected by AIDS. The cost was $1250 for one week.

Erica began her mission by placing coffee cans in every Coventry school. The children were asked to donate pennies into these cans. She coordinated a basketball game between Coventry High School teachers and The Coventry Police Department. She looked up every DeCosta in the phone book until she reached the home of Sara DeCosta, the hockey gold medalist. Sara came to the game to sign autographs. Erica arranged spaghetti dinners at the Coventry Community Center. The night before Erica graduated, she had a talent show at Nino’s in Coventry. Children from Western Coventry and Knotty Oak Middle School were the stars in the show. Erica had a goal of $10,000 to raise by the time she graduated from high school. She had $8,500 when a donor, who wished to remain anonymous, made up the difference.

Erica was also involved with the Outreach program and the Interact Club at Coventry High. Because of Erica’s volunteering in high school, she received the Alan Shawn Feinstein scholarship that her advisor Nancy Springelmeyer had nominated her for.

When Erica went to Rhode Island College, she began a group called RIC Angels and continued to have fundraisers for the same cause. She had formal dinners at various venues such as Johnson and Wales, Crowne Plaza and Quidnessett Country Club. When Erica graduated from RIC, she had raised $27,000.
She was also very involved with campus ministry at RIC and would spend her spring breaks volunteering at orphanages and homeless shelters in other cities.

After Erica graduated from college, she also spent hundreds of hours volunteering for CareNet RI which is an organization that helps pregnant women to give birth instead of aborting their babies. She was a registered doula (birthing coach) and would provide guidance to these women before, during and after their deliveries on a volunteer basis.

On December, 2014 Erica was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. She and her husband, Josh had a little boy, Cade who was 18 months old and Erica was 14 weeks pregnant with their daughter, Ella. The doctors suggested abortion to extend Erica’s life. Erica did not entertain that idea for one second. She jeopardized her own life to save the life of her baby. She had five chemo treatments while she was pregnant and fought as hard as she could. On April 29, 2015 Erica give birth to a healthy, beautiful baby girl. She was able to spend almost two months with Ella. On June 23, 2015 Erica passed away.

 The words Erica lived by are: “Those who say it cannot be done, should not interfere with those who are doing it.”