Mourning Marina Zhurakhinskaya

See this Software Freedom Conservancy post for more information her life and work.

We are sad to inform our community that Marina Zhurakhinsakaya died on Saturday.

CW: cancer - Marina died on Saturday after winning her struggle with cancer for three years. We
would like to elevate Marina's message to encourage people to test themselves for genetic markers
for breast cancer. You can donate in Marina's honor to Dana Farber's Metastatic Breast Cancer
Research Fund:

https://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/site/TR?team_id=6863&...


Marina founded the organization that became Outreachy in 2010. We know that many people in
Outreachy were encouraged and supported by Marina. Please be supportive of each other, and be kind
to yourself during this tough time.

The Outreachy private Zulip chat has a topic where you can share your memories and pictures of
Marina:

https://chat.outreachy.org/#narrow/stream/57-remember-and...

If you know of a past Outreachy mentor or intern who does not have access to the Outreachy chat
server, please have them contact <organizers@outreachy.org> to ask for an invitation to the chat.

Outreachy and Conservancy will post an official blog about Marina's life and involvement later this
week, once we have review from Marina's family. In the meantime, you can share our tweet:

https://twitter.com/outreachy/status/1536396995434147840

Outreachy understands that current community coordinators, mentors, and interns may be impacted by
Marina's death. We encourage you to take the time you need. If you need to take time off during the
May 2022 internships, please do so. Make sure to communicate your days off to Outreachy mentors and
interns you are working with. Outreachy organizers will work on an official bereavement leave
policy for interns and mentors in the coming weeks.

Please support each other through this tough time. Be kind to others, and be kind to yourself as
well. Take the time you need, and we hope people can share memories of Marina in the Outreachy
Zulip chat.

Sage Sharp, Outreachy Organizer
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