When Jeanette Mare’s young son died without warning, she found healing through creating the Ben’s Bells Project, whose volunteers make and distribute whimsical, colorful ceramic bells that inspire people to spread intentional kindness. Jeanette’s work has received national attention, starting in 2011 when she hung more than 1,400 bells around Tucson, Arizona, in the wake of a deadly shooting at a constituent event held by U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords. Many more bells are on the way.
Since being diagnosed with cancer in 2014, Romy Wightman has endured ten surgeries and years of treatment. Facing financial struggle, she founded a support group to share alternative options. Romy is not “cured” but, after seeing so many families face bankruptcy, she was inspired to start Wight Horse, a nonprofit devoted to helping people manage their medical debt.
After Karla Rauch’s toddler, Emmett, swallowed a remote control battery and sustained permanent esophageal damage, this stay-at-home mom mobilized the Energizer company to change how button batteries are used. Driven to promote healing for other families she launched The Battery Controlled, an award-winning awareness campaign to inspire parents and physicians to control the senseless dangers of batteries and battery-controlled devices.
These three mothers, along with the ten amazing women you are about to meet, are unsung heroes and standard-bearers of grace. They sacrifice and save us. They nurture and heal us. They guide and teach us. They have followed their own intuitive path toward grace and set us on a path to forge our own future, and for most of them, it began with their children.
That’s how it happened for me. As a mother of three, I can say—and mothers everywhere will likely agree—that the overwhelming love we feel when our first child is born is often mixed with apprehension, as we realize that this new life, so dependent upon us, does not come with an instruction manual, and that the world can be scary.
As a brand-new mom, I grappled with intense emotions of love and anxiety. My firstborn weighed more than 10 pounds and I was barely 120 pounds, fresh from a C-section and alone, as my family lived on the opposite coast.
“Fake it till you make it” was my mantra because I was unsure of everything at that point — especially whether I was equipped to be a mother. I didn’t even want to leave the hospital, convinced that I would not be able to protect my son at home. At that point, I picked up a magazine and read about a couple whose son had just been killed. The father was home with the kids while the mother was out on errands. He told their fourteen-year-old son that he could take out his ATV as long as he stayed around the house. Minutes later, the father heard a terrible crash, a loud moan, and then eerie silence. For a terrifying moment, he couldn’t move, unable to process the possibility of what was outside. But within seconds, he sprinted out the door and found his son convulsing, dying in front of him. As the father watched his son take his last breath, he smelled the sweet scent of chocolate chip cookies coming from his mouth. In that moment, the father was unable to comprehend how his son could be eating cookies one minute and dead the next.
Even now, twenty-two years later, this story still makes me tear up. At the time, all I could think about was how I was going to protect my son from every little thing. Over the years, I’ve come to realize, like most parents do, that all I can do is pray, teach, and do anything in my power to create a safer world for them and the children they will someday have.
This is why the women in this book inspire me. Everything they do may turn out to be the one thing that protects their child — and yours — from gun violence, cancer, or loss. Each of them has turned her suffering and grief into something bigger for others.
The first deep tragedy of my life occurred when I was a little girl — my mother died suddenly, out of the blue. That devastating event ignited my lifelong search to fill the hole her death created — a motherly presence, and the security and love of a close-knit family. Years later as a single, working mother, I faced life-changing challenges including cancer, divorce, and taking care of a son whose life was in grave danger from juvenile diabetes.
Throughout this time, I kept searching for a supportive community that could not only understand my situation but inspire me to find more meaning in my life, and to help me make this world a safer, healthier, and better place for our families. With the help of twelve phenomenal moms/board members, we established what became our award-winning nonprofit, Mother’s Grace. The infrastructure eventually came to help thousands of families facing traumas of all kinds, and we’re growing stronger and expanding every day. Our mission has become my calling, and when I set my mind to something, I don’t stop. I’m a gentle bulldog: determined, relentless, and focused, except when I’m not, when I’m vulnerable like anyone else.
It’s really that simple. When even one of us steps up to pay it forward, the ripple effects are awesome, and the results are long-reaching and perhaps everlasting. In fact, if you accept my invitation right now, you can find out for yourself how the true power to change lives resides within each of us.
As the “narrator” of this collection, I can say with certainty that each of the mothers in this book were divinely inspired. I’ve seen firsthand how they impact audiences during live presentations. Their themes include surviving natural disaster, poverty and homelessness, childhood addiction and suicide, and life-threatening illnesses. While their spiritual journeys are certainly moving, it’s the actions they’ve taken that connect most with people. You’ll find parts of yourself in these stories of seemingly average moms and be inspired to find that piece of you, which may only need a little nudge to take the next step.
One thing is certain: mothers are the backbone of our families and our communities.
This is the message I share, from community groups to large nonprofits to numerous media outlets, as I form new partnerships with socially responsible corporations and philanthropic organizations. All of them celebrate women’s resilience and grit.
As the founder and executive director of Mother’s Grace, a nonprofit organization supporting thousands of women in crisis each year, as well as in my ongoing role as a senior vice president at Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp), a world-leading healthcare diagnostics, S&P 500 company, I’m committed to my mission of calling attention to these selfless heroines and their causes, which now includes bringing this book before the public.
Our mission is to produce a new generation of women stepping into leadership roles. Through our mentorship programs and seed grants, Mother’s Grace propels women to take the next step in supporting their communities. To date, our 100-percent volunteer-driven organization has raised more than $5 million for women and their families in need, and has assisted more than 6,000 mothers in the state of Arizona and throughout the world.
We know that millions of people all across America and around the world face similar challenges every day. That’s what continues to motivate Mother’s Grace missions. We’re not only gaining traction in communities everywhere; we are exploding, which bodes extremely well for each of you to find a niche under our umbrella.
Welcome to what’s going on in the world of female energy and power, as I offer you an alternative subtitle to this book: Kicking Ass, One Mother at a Time. Once you read their stories, I’m sure you’ll agree that these women are remarkable change agents.
They have changed my life forever and enabled me to find fulfillment beyond my wildest dreams through their outstanding, faith-inspired responses to crises. Through them I’ve found new levels of friendship, faith, and grit.
Even more important, I’ve found grace.