SAN FRANCISCO, April 22, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mother’s Day can be an incredibly challenging time for women and girls who have lost their mothers, especially during a pandemic. This Mother’s Day, empowerHER®’s LUMINARIA celebration is partnering with the San Francisco Giants to bring together those who have lost their mothers.
LUMINARIA is a whimsical display of personalized bags honoring loved ones this Mother’s Day. Hand-written by a local calligrapher and uniquely displayed by volunteers, each bag is illuminated by a battery-operated candle. What started along the coast just outside of Boston, Massachusetts at the historic Scituate Lighthouse in 2020, has now expanded to 10 major cities across the country this May. Among these cities, LUMINARIA will take place at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Two Wishes Ranch outside of Austin, on the baseball field of the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park, and more. A brief, yet inspiring video depicting LUMINARIA can be viewed HERE.
Each LUMINARIA bag, purchased by donors from across the globe for a $25 donation, will be uniquely displayed and illuminated by local volunteers IN HONOR OF or IN MEMORY OF loved ones. This year, the San Francisco LUMINARIA will take place on May 3rd on the field at Oracle Park. 100% of proceeds benefit all empowerHER® year-round programs, such as our annual Mother’s Day Retreat for girls of all ages.
Working together with the Giants, LUMINARIA chairs Erin Donahue, Sara Brown and Shannon Stecher Anandasakaran, are on a mission to help us empower, support and connect girls and young women who’ve lost their mothers throughout the San Francisco community. These empowerHER® Ambassadors are responsible for expanding empowerHER® programs from Boston to San Francisco and to all at-risk girls in California in need of support.
“We were honored to be asked by the co-chairs of LUMINARIA to use Oracle Park as the site for this unique and beautiful display to honor those mothers who were lost much too soon by girls and young women,” said Stephen Revetria, President, Giants Enterprises.
About empowerHER®
empowerHER® was formed in 2013 with a very specific mission—to empower, support and connect girls and young women up to age 24 who have experienced the loss of their mothers. empowerHER® is a supportive and inclusive community that offers year-round EVENTS for GIRLS that provides peer support and reminds girls they are not alone in their grief. Our MENTOR PROGRAM matches girls and young women with positive role models from the community to show “loss is survivable”. empowerHER® is a one-of-a-kind nonprofit and offers the only mentor program in the world serving girls and young women of mother loss in a community-based, non-therapeutic and volunteer-driven model.
What began in Boston in 2013, has now expanded nationally, with all activities provided at no charge to the families. empowerHER® is rooted in a deep understanding of how it feels for a girl to lose her mother and what it will take to lift her up, and give her hope, just as her mother would have wanted.
To purchase a LUMINARIA bag, visit www.empoweringher.org/luminaria.
To learn more about empowerHER®, visit www.empoweringher.org. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Media Contact:
Cara Belvin
Founder & CEO
617-620-9826
cara@empoweringher.org