September 10, 2007

 

Dear Mommy’s Light Community,                                

 

It is fitting that I write this email at the start of the school year, because I met Laura Munts when my daughter Sarah started first grade seven years ago.  Sarah and Laura’s daughter Maggie became good friends that first day, and Laura and I very quickly followed suit.

 

As I’m sure many of you can appreciate, I was drawn to Laura’s joyful support of children, particularly those in need.  When I joined Mommy’s Light in 2000, we were serving three children and had not yet held any events.  Within the year, I found myself on staff writing grant applications, helping to put together a benefit concert, ironing t-shirts, serving children and having so much fun building the vision.  While I first came to Mommy’s Light via the hand of friendship, I stayed because I felt called to help make a difference and because of the many wonderful people I’ve had the privilege to work with and know through this amazing organization.

 

Just as the children we serve treasure the details of their traditions, I hold dear the details of my journey with Mommy’s Light:

 

• Twins who held their mom up while she cooked

 

• My son bagging groceries at Whole Foods to help raise funds for Mommy’s Light

 

• Writing our value statement with Tracey and Laura on Laura’s living room floor

 

• A dad telling me his wife would have loved what I did

 

• Staff’s children running barefoot through Anna’s garden at the volunteer appreciation party

 

• A little girl whose favorite thing was helping her mom clean

 

• Riding in a limo to the People magazine celebration

 

• A mom putting bows in her hair and making everyone laugh three days before she died

 

• Counting 99 dozen homemade cookies donated by local teens

 

• Watching eight of ‘our teens’ honor their traditions/mothers on camera at QVC

 

We’ve grown from serving three children/teens to 140 and there is much more for us to do.  I’m very grateful to have met Laura that September seven years ago and am looking forward to the next ten years with all of you, the Mommy’s Light family.

 

With gratitude for the part each of you has played in building Mommy’s Light,

 

Milly Elrod

Operations Manager

 

 

What’s New:

 

Children and Teens:  Mommy’s Light welcomed our 140^th child to our Tradition Fulfillment Program!  Matthew is nine years old and says his mother did “lots of fun stuff” with him.  One of Matthew’s favorite things to do with his mom was cheer for the Philadelphia Phillies.  They’d always take their baseball gloves to the games with high hopes of catching foul balls.

 

Staff:  Please join us in wishing the best of luck to Alison Niles as she pursues her graphic talents at Vanguard.  Much gratitude to Alison for her creativity, caring and great work as our Office Manager.  Thank you for helping to build the foundation of Mommy’s Light - we’ll miss you, Alison! 

 

And please join us in welcoming Lynne Kreher as our new Office Manager.  Lynne, who has a B.S. degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois, brings terrific organizational and data management skills and joy to Mommy’s Light.  Lynne can be reached at Lynne@mommyslight.org.

 

10^th Anniversary Celebration – October 27, 2007 at Gulph Mills Golf Club in King of Prussia, PA:  It’s time to celebrate!  And it is time to purchase tickets to reserve your seats!  For ticket information, email Lynne@mommyslight.org.  Note that tickets are limited to the first 200 registered guests.

 

Thank you to our current Gold Sponsors:

 

·         Mommy’s Light’s Board of Directors

·         The Comcast Foundation

·         The Philadelphia Affiliate of Susan G. Komen For the Cure

·         AstraZeneca

·         MC3

·         The Hankin Group

·         Main Line Today Magazine

·         Michael and Lynn Doyle

·         Fischer Cunnane & Associates Ltd

·         SmartPark

·         The Susan Fazio Foundation for Melanoma Research

·         Robert and Joan Dircks Foundation

·         Mally Beauty

·         In Memory of Mary Murphy by the Munts Family

·         The John F. Scarpa Foundation

 

And to our current Silver Sponsor:

• Gifts of Joy Foundation

 

Please consider becoming, or inviting your friends/businesses to become, a 10^th Anniversary Sponsor.  These Sponsors will be recognized throughout the year.  There are three ways to participate:

 

• Gold Pledge -- $10,000 to be paid in full by May 31, 2008. 
• Silver Pledge -- $10,000 to be paid in two installments of $5,000 each (due by the 31^st of May in the years 2008 and 2009).
• Bronze Pledge - $10,000 to be paid in four installments of $2,500 each (due by the 31^st of May in the years 2008 – 2011).

 

Please call 610-725-9790 or email Laura Munts (Laura@mommyslight.org) if you want to become a 10^th Anniversary Sponsor, or have ideas about whom to invite to become one.