PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Sunday marked a day of remembrance, a day of mourning but also a day of hope for parents and families in the Ponte Vedra and Jacksonville communities.
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The Tom Coughlin Jay Fund held a candlelight vigil this morning for parents and families who have lost children to cancer while honoring those lives lost.
“These families are dealing with a loss that most of us can’t imagine,” said Jay Fund CEO Kelly Coughlin at Sunday’s event. “And so we pride ourselves in bringing them together with others who can relate and also give them some tools to continue to walk along their journey of grief.”
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One of the volunteers at Sunday’s event, Helena Gutierrez Richards, lost her son Mark to leukemia. Now, through the Jay Fund, she’s turning her pain into purpose by helping other parents cope with their loss. She wants to show them there’s hope and better days ahead.
“You’re very angry or you’re very depressed, and you don’t want to talk to anybody. You wanna give up. You wanna give up in life, and you don’t wanna go to your other children’s recitals or things like that,” Richards explained emotionally to Action News Jax. “We give people morsels of hope and tools to go home with.”
Those looking to capture some of those ‘morsels of hope’ can do so through the Jay Fund themselves by clicking here to visit their website. The foundation provides emotional, financial and practical support for all those in need.
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