When reflecting on how Let There Be Mom has touched hundreds of families in the United States over the past 15 years, Kipra Anderson admitted she was not always certain about where this spectacular journey would take her.
Anderson told FOX Carolina she was in a wagon God had been pulling from day one. She founded the organization to help preserve the legacies of moms and dads diagnosed with a life-threatening illnesses.
The nonprofit works with artisans to create presents for parents to give their children during special occasions that are yet to come. The gifts are often made from clothing or other personal items.
Anderson gets sign during church service
Anderson explained that the parents want to show up and want their children to always know how special they are to them. She said she first came up with the idea in October 2006 while dusting a photograph of her kids.
Anderson said she wondered what they would remember if something happened to her. She moved on, though, when she could not find a business that focused on helping kids remember a parent who may have died.
According to Anderson, she was sitting in church the next month when her pastor asked the congregation if God was asking them to do something. She was pretty certain at the time that He was not. A different pastor looked straight at her a couple of weeks later at a church service and asked the same question. She then prayed for a sign after that.
She volunteered at her kid's school for a holiday event the following day. She met another mom, who broke down in tears after revealing she was seriously ill. The sick mother believed this would be her final Christmas with her kids.
Anderson decided to create Let There Be Mom following the holiday season after speaking to her husband and reading her Bible. She started the new year of 2007 by getting the paperwork for the nonprofit and recruiting a board.
Let There Be Mom is a huge success
She said that everybody brought something major to the table that she knew nothing about. She received the green light to move forward with the organization one month after submitting the required paperwork. She said that news about the nonprofit spread quickly, and corporation donations for Let There Be Mom started to pour in, Greenville Online reported.
Anderson said the original goal was to start serving parents in November 2007, but that all changed when she met 27-year-old Amanda Moon in August of that year. The married mom of a 3-year-old girl was in the final stages of cervical cancer, and Anderson knew she had to act fast.
Anderson said they had three and a half weeks to finish things. That they did with Amanda's daughter Madison having a collection of personalized gifts by the time her mom died at the end of the month.
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