Mommy’s Light Lives On Fund Keeps Traditions Alive

Downingtown, PA – October 6, 2005 – Twelve-year old Jackie Nunery, Wyndmoor, happily remembers baking cookies with her mother throughout her childhood. That favorite tradition might have ended in 2001, when Jackie’s mother died of cancer. But thanks to Downingtown-based Mommy’s Light Lives on Fund, two days prior to her mother’s October 8th birthday, a Mommy’s Light volunteer delivered all the necessary ingredients for Jackie to bake cookies as a way of celebrating her mother’s life.

Mommy’s Light’s mission is to bring joy and comfort to children and teens by helping them keep alive traditions and simple pleasures they shared with their mothers. The organization, which relies on corporate and individual sponsorship to sustain services and cultivate growth, will hold its annual Night of Stars Gala, presented by Wachovia, on November 5, from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square. Tickets are limited to 200 guests and are available for $125 each by contacting Mommy’s Light at 610-725-9790 or visit www.mommyslight.org.

“We are unique in that we offer direct services to maternally bereaved children,” says Executive Director Laura Munts, Downingtown. “We actually go to the family’s home and provide the resources for children to continue treasured traditions each year until they reach age 18.” The death of a mother has lifelong implications for her children. However, children who are able to maintain emotional connections with their deceased mothers are more likely to adapt to their loss in a healthy manner and to avoid emotional, psychological, physical and behavioral problems. Mommy’s Light recently served its 95th child in the Delaware Valley and has begun to provide bereavement educational materials nationally for adults to understand grieving children’s needs and learn the tools necessary to meet those needs.

The gala committee, headed by Joan Kistler, Chester Springs, and Anna Hillman, Penn Valley, has been securing silent and live auction items, including a trip for two to Australia donated by Linda and Ian Swain of Swain Tours in Ardmore; a Leslie Greene diamond necklace available at Bernie Robbins Fine Jewelry; a Comcast Superbox for a 76er’s game; a week at Chateau Kerangat in Brittany, France donated by Evan and Elizabeth Hunt, Elverson; and a horse-drawn carriage ride from Dr. and Mrs. Donald Rosato of Chester Springs.

Auctioneer Kathy Levine, West Chester, America’s TV Shopping Diva, will be among the celebrity guests, which also include Fox 29’s Jennaphr Frederick, NBC 10 Meteorologist Amy Freeze and Sue Springsteen, Morgan Stanley Market Report Correspondent for KYW.
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Contact: Ellen Langas Campbell, NouSoma Communications, Inc.
610-458-1580, ellen@nousoma.com
Editors Note: Photos and interviews with Freeze, Hillman, Kistler, Levine, Munts, Nunery family
and Springsteen available.