remember their loved ones, photo by Patrick Murphy
TheMothers2016, recently held an annual “Butterfly Release” ceremony at Yonkers City Hall. TheMothers2016 is a group founded by Hope Hollinsworth Coaxum and Lisa Clark Norman.
The Mothers 2016 is comprised of a group of mothers that have lost a child due to various circumstances, mothers who are living with the impact, effect and aftermath of one of life’s most unnatural and devastating events. They want to continually support, embrace and encourage one another and others who have endured this life changing experience, to create collaborative partnerships with like-minded organizations, groups and families who have been affected by the loss of a child. They are diverse, as we come from various backgrounds and communities.
The Butterfly Release Ceremony “Light the Sky” has been organized for the last three years by TheMothers2016 Hope Hollinsworth Coaxum and co-founder Lisa Clark Norman. This year however, things were done a bit different due to the pandemic. We organized a live streamed ceremony. In doing so, we were able to honor other angels. We asked mothers from various cities/states/communities to submit a picture of their beloved angel in order for us to honor them during our Butterfly Release Ceremony.
Mothers released live butterflies, and it was great to see this event coninute.
The event as every year we’ve held it was in collaboration with Mayor Mike Spano, The City of Yonkers and sponsored by The Matthew Wallace Foundation and Patrick Murphy from New Logical LLC who took the group photo and did the live streamed/virtual ceremony.
