STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

The smiling pictures scattered amidst the marigold garlands, small teddy bears and sugar skulls in the ofrenda created by The Alliance of Idaho were accompanied by sad stories.

The ofrenda in remembrance of immigrants told the sad endings to the lives of those ranging in age from 2 to 75 who had come to the United States from Vietnam, Haiti, Nicaragua, Trinidad, Korea, the Ukraine, India, El Salvador and Mexico looking for a better life.

Silverio Gonzales, 38, had lived in Chicago 18 years and was shot and killed by ICE officers after dropping his children off at a school and day care in Chicago. Camille Diaz Cordova was a 29-year-old trans who sought asylum in the United States but was deported to El Salvador where she was kidnapped by police and brutally murdered.

Carlos Vasquez, 16, was the captain of his soccer team and a boy who loved to play the trumpet. But he was separated from his sister upon making it to America and died in detention from the flu.

Roylan Hernadez-Diaz, 43, had sought asylum in the United States after spending nine years as a political prisoner in Cuba but committed suicide after being held in ICE detention for five months with no hope of release. And 19-year-old Manuel Pacheco was a DACA recipient who had come to the United States at 3 and had just had a baby when he was deported, then kidnaped and killed by the Mexican cartel.

The altar, created in a raised vegetable growing bed at The Hunger Coalition, was among altars created by 16 organizations and schools, including the Senior connection, Far + Wise, Syringa Mountain School and Wood River Middle School.

Many of the altars celebrated family members, including pets.

The Space, for instance, created a colorful ofrenda topped by an animal skull and boasting a myriad of personal family items people had contributed.

One woman, for instance, contributed an envelope given to her by her grandfather, whom she fondly remembered as “Pop Pop,” It contained a silk hankie from China that he sent to her grandmother in 1945 when he was stationed there during World War II.

Another family contributed a collar that had belonged to Monster, a cat they had brought home from a dog kennel. It, in turn brought them much joy for the next 13 years.

The Advocates colored their bed with purple paper marigolds amidst white and orange ones leading to an alter honoring JP Salinas, a young school child who died a couple years ago after being hit by a car. The ofrenda included some of JP’s favorite foods, as well as colorful sugar skulls and other items.

An ofrenda created by representatives from Hailey and Bellevue libraries included such books as “The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe” and “Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed,” alongside picture of family pets, baseball player cards and photographs of long-gone relatives.

Students at Alturas Elementary School adorned theirs with starfish and reptiles they’d made in art class.

And students at Bellevue Elementary School adorned theirs with eye-catching skeletons and paper skulls topped with sombreros they’d made.

“It’s all joy, joy, joy!” enthused Naomi Spence, of The Hunger Coalition.