A good blanket has amazing powers—warmth, comfort, a sense of security and sometimes much more.
Last Christmas, just a few months after their dad succumbed to his years-long battle with cancer, Reaghan and Julia Anderson each received quilts made from his favorite T-shirts.
“It smells like Dad,” says 11-year-old Julia. “It feels like him, just not the same squishiness.”
“Every shirt has something, some memory that connects to us specifically,” says Reaghan, 14. “It feels like I’m still in his arms when I’m wrapped up in this.”
“He knew we were going to miss his hugs the most,” says their mother, Regina.
The quilts won’t be the last gift Reaghan and Julia receive from their late father.
As he approached the end of his life, Jimmy Anderson did everything he could to prepare—organizing family finances, planning his own funeral, even switching the Laurens Electric Cooperative membership into Regina’s name.
And he collaborated with a local nonprofit to create a tangible legacy for his family.
Let There Be Mom, based in Greenville, works with Upstate parents facing life-threatening illnesses to transform their belongings and stories into personalized keepsakes for their children. The delivery of the memory gifts they create—typically 12 to 15 per child—are timed to arrive at milestones the parent won’t be there to see, such as getting their driver’s license or graduation.
Laurens Electric member Kipra Anderson (no relation to Jimmy’s family) started Let There Be Mom in 2007 after an encounter at her children’s school with another mom.
“She collapsed into my arms and said, ‘I don’t know what to do,'” says Anderson. “I think this is my last Christmas with my boys.”
Anderson had already thought about what memories her own children would have if something happened to her. She had already futilely searched for organizations that could help. She had already prayed for guidance, and she already had an idea.
“The whole concept for Let There Be Mom came flooding back,” says Anderson. “I told her,
‘I know what to do.'”
In the 19 years since, Anderson has sat down with hundreds of moms and dads to preserve their memories for their children. She translates their stories and experiences into keepsakes such as memory quilts, thumbprint necklaces cast in silver or cufflinks made from a foul ball caught at a baseball game.
“It’s an opportunity for me to get to know them, their family traditions, messages they want to pass on,” she says. “Then I suggest ways to make that happen.”
Let There Be Mom partners with a network of woodworkers, jewelers and other artisans, many located in the Upstate, to produce high quality, lasting treasures.
“If I could go back and do something different, I would have encouraged him to get it done sooner,” she says. “I’m the biggest Let There Be Mom advocate you will find, because I know the difference it made in our lives, in these girls’ lives.”