Meet The Charity: Lola Jayne Foundation Supports Grieving Parents
SEAFORD, NY — Local charities are the unsung heroes of our communities. Nonprofit and not-for-profit organizations strive to create lasting change and positively impact the lives of those around them.
Some people start organizations as a way to cope with grief, some see an issue they want to tackle, and some want to bring lasting change. Sometimes, all those reasons apply.
Patch wants to highlight your local charity and connect it with community members who want to help and do good, so that way, more people can benefit. Here is just one of many charities doing terrific work in your community.
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What is your name?
Mary Miller
Find out what's happening in Wantagh-Seafordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
What is the name of your charity?
The Lola Jayne Foundation
What is your position within your charity?
President
What community is your organization based in
Seaford, NY
Link to your website
https://lolajaynefoundation.or…
What is your mission?
Our mission is to support charitable organizations that offer support to grieving parents and advance infant healthcare. The foundation believes that no parent should have to face the pain and trauma of losing a child alone. By supporting organizations that provide resources and assistance to grieving parents, the Lola Jayne Foundation hopes to ease their burden and provide them with the support they need during this difficult time.
In addition to supporting grieving parents, the Lola Jayne Foundation aims to advance infant healthcare. The foundation recognizes the importance of ensuring that infants receive the highest quality of care and works to support organizations that are dedicated to improving infant healthcare outcomes. Through its efforts, the Lola Jayne Foundation hopes to make a positive impact on the lives of parents and infants alike, and to honor the memory of Lola Jayne White.
What does your charity do to further its mission? Please list examples.
With our fundraising efforts, we have raised over $100,000 in under 2 years. In 2023, we gave a grant to Center for HOPE at Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center. This program is committed to helping families during the difficult and painful time after the loss of a loved one. Their bereavement programs are intended to meet the needs of all family members and are provided free of charge. In 2024, we presented a $50,000 grant to Luke’s Purpose, a charity that is dedicated to helping families with finances related to child loss, including funeral and cemetery costs, mental health fees, and medical bills.
We connect with charities that share similar goals as us. We believe that we’re stronger together and we hope to expand our community outreach as much as possible.
What inspired you to start your charity?
Our daughter Lola was the light of our lives, our first born, and the best thing to ever happen to us. On December 28, 2022, she passed away unexpectedly at 9 months old. The night we lost Lola, we walked away from the hospital with nothing but a memory box of her painted handprints. It was shocking to us as parents that we didn’t get a phone call from the hospital to check in on us or offer some type of mental support. It quickly became clear to us that there is a lack of resources for bereaved families.
Thankfully, a local mother who had been through the same trauma reached out to us and recommended a grief counselor and a group for bereaved parents that we credit for saving our lives. Without this support, the responsibility of identifying and seeking out these necessary services would have fallen on us at a time when we simply did not have the energy or ability to do so.
Throughout our grief journey we continued to meet parents coping with the loss of a child who were similarly unsure how or where to seek support. Soon after in March of 2023, we decided to turn our pain into purpose, setting up The Lola Jayne Foundation in Lola’s honor.
The Lola Jayne Foundation seeks to bring necessary resources to grieving parents as they navigate the seemingly unnavigable and to improve infant healthcare with the goal of preventing future tragedies.
How can people help you accomplish your organization’s mission or get involved in events?
Donate to The Lola Jayne Foundation, connect loss families with our organization so that we can provide them with resources, introduce us to similar charities, come to our fundraising event in September!
What is the most memorable moment you’ve had since starting your organization?
Presenting Luke’s Purpose with a $50,000 check at our 2nd Annual Fundraising event was the highlight of the foundation thus far. We met Ashley and Burak in our therapy group for Center for HOPE and were incredibly inspired by their resilience and turning their pain into purpose. They work tirelessly to raise funds to help ease the financial burden on loss families and have helped over 50 families to date. It was a no brainer that they would be the recipient of this years grant and we look forward to partnering with them more in the future.
What else would you like people to know about your charity?
We truly believe that survival is a community event. Losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to a parent, and we want every family out there to know that they are not alone in this grieving journey.
What are your organization’s social media pages or handles?
https://www.instagram.com/lola…
https://www.facebook.com/lolaj…
Do you help run a charity?
Nominate it here or share this link with someone who does.
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