Hope Loves Company – Supporting Children in ALS Families
In this episode, I chat with three amazing women who are all involved with Hope Loves Company, a non-profit that provides support to children who have had or have a loved one battling ALS.
Hope Loves Company is the result of raising three children who had to learn about ALS (or Lou Gehrig's Disease) as young children. Hope Loves Company's (HLC) founder, Jodi O'Donnell-Ames, lost her husband, Kevin, to ALS in 2001. Their daughter, Alina, was almost three when Kevin was diagnosed. Years after Jodi lost her husband to ALS, Jodi married Warren Benton Ames and became the mother of his two children, Nora and Adam who were then 11 and 8 years old. They had lost their biological mother to ALS. So after watching her daughter and her 2 step children experience life with ALS and the loss of a father and mother, Jodi realized the need to offer support to children of those living wiith ALS. That was the inspiration to start this one of a kind community. In this episode you''ll hear about all that HLC offers to children like Camp HLC, Hugs of Hope care packages, two annual scholarships, a Young Ambassador program, virtual peer support groups, children's books and educational materials, teen retreats, the HLC Kids Count Conference, and more. You'll even hear from a young adult who has benefitted from HLC. I am in awe of these ladies and the love and support they pour into our children when they need it the most. Thanks for listening and sharing.
Hugs, Lorri
