Your Kids

Traditions Comfort Grieving Children

Posted: 12/3/2010

Photo: Scott Pfeiffer. Mommy’s Light is an organization dedicated to keeping traditions alive after a mother’s death.

(NAPSI) - There’s comforting news for children and teens whose mothers are terminally ill or have died. Mommy’s Light Lives On Fund®, a charity dedicated to keeping family traditions alive after a mother’s death, supports children by arranging, and often paying for, traditions they shared with their mothers yearly until age 18.

The organization was founded in 1997 by Mary Murphy, a mom diagnosed with cervical cancer. Murphy prepared her 10-year-old son for life without her. Together, they decided he would continue their tradition of making holiday cookies.

Realizing that continuing traditions could help grieving children in profound and joyful ways, Murphy incorporated Mommy’s Light just months before her death.

A recent project that benefits the organization is a keepsake cookbook created by Jeannine Ginsburg, a mother with metastatic breast cancer.

Said Ginsburg, “After receiving my diagnosis, I began ‘getting my affairs in order.’ High on my bucket list was putting together a cookbook of my family’s favorite recipes so they will always have them.”

“Many of the children we serve choose traditions that involve their mothers’ special recipes,” says Laura Munts, president of Mommy’s Light’s board. “Preparing favorite foods ‘just like Mom did’ can help maintain a healthy connection and evoke memories of being nurtured and loved.”

Ginsburg and three friends gathered and edited hundreds of recipes to create Mommy’s Light in the Kitchen. It is available for a $15 donation (includes shipping) at www.mommyslight.org. All proceeds benefit Mommy’s Light.

Mary Murphy’s

Chicken Pot Pie

1 cup each, chopped onion, celery, carrots

⅓ cup butter

½ cup flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup half-and-half

4 cups cooked chicken

Salt & pepper to taste

3 or more prepared pie crusts

Preheat oven to 400º F. Sauté onion, celery and carrots in butter for 10 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring continuously. Combine broth and half-and-half with the mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick and bubbly. Add salt, pepper and chicken. In a 13x9-inch pan, place pie crust with flour on the bottom. Pour chicken mixture onto the pie crust and cover with second crust. Use cookie cutters on third crust to make festive shapes to decorate top. Bake for 40 minutes.

To learn more or to purchase a copy of the cookbook, visit www.mommyslight.org.

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