A Mother's Passion Project

Losing a child is one of the most painful events life can throw your way. I lost my beautiful daughter Lauren, known as Pepper to her friends in 2024, at the young age of 27. The f-ing 27 club!

I couldn't breathe or eat for months after I got the call from the New Orleans Coroners office while I was sitting at a cafe in Italy. I was traveling alone and had to rely on strangers next to me at the cafe to help me those first few minutes. Then I had to make the grueling 24 hours transport back to the states all alone.

I won't talk here about the grief process. But I will say it is a never ending form of missing Pepper. Now, instead of it being a paralyzing pain that kept me on my couch for months after her death, it is now a pain I walk with as a functioning member of my own life. That took a while - but I knew she had asked me to set up a charity on her behalf. So...I had a mission...without any direction or definition....yet.

It took a while for the idea of what kind of charity to partner with or to build to take shape. It wasn't until two innocent comments were made to me by her friends. A wish they expressed to create art, and the reality they face with lack of funds to do so. That's when the lights went off in my head. Instead of giving energy and time to an existing charity, I knew I found the charitable cause Pepper would feel good about. I believe this has the power to help her community in a way that honors my daughter wishes and the things in life she felt passionate about. Guiding principles include:

1. A desire to preserve the dignity of the recipients by not tying requirements to past successes, to any form of educational or housing requirements

2. Creating something which honors the individual artistic talents without judgement

3. Provide a small boost to help the individual move a little closer to creating thier art

When I ran the idea by a few of her close friends, they were all very supportive. Some have offered to help - so we now have Pepper's MoonBeamTM run by myself as the passionate Mom and founder of this initiative and a few of her close "krewe" of friends who all loved her so much.

This is a passion project and I look forward to the positive impacts I'm envisioning this could have on many lives of individuals who might not otherwise have the financial means to see their artistic dream come thru. I hope you stay around and follow the stories of this journey as it unfolds.

with love,

Mom