Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Bolton.
Hi Lisa, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I founded The Dandelion Project, a 501(c)(3) non profit organization, originally with my daughter, Kerri in honor of her brother who she never met. I lost him in 1989 from complications to my pregnancy. At that time there were no programs to help grieving parents going through this type of child loss. I grieved my son, DJ alone for many years. Kerri found out about him one day and we wanted to do something in his memory. Then my 18 year old stepdaughter, Quinn passed away in 2015 from a rare auto-immune form of encephalitis. The mission was revamped, but then once again there was another loss. This time it was my beautiful, funny, very talented daughter. In 2019 Kerri lost her six year battle with substance use disorder when she overdosed on Heroin laced with Fentanyl and Carfentanyl. I once again changed the mission and now I am a grief counselor and coach providing counseling, resources and raising awareness on child loss and grief. We provide all our service free to the communities we serve in and exist on donations and sponsorships which go directly back into The Dandelion Project so that our mission may continue. We recently launched our Hugs from Heaven program which provides free bereavement boxes to grieving families. We also do three scholarships/donations in my children’s name. Our first was providing a skating scholarship to a family in North Carolina who lost their husband/father. The skating school is the one Quinn attended for many years. The next one was to Bundles of Hope in Tampa in memory of my son DJ. Kerri was a 4.0 college graduate who fought for every cause out there so it has been a difficult decision on what to do in her honor. Currently we are working on billboards with Leona’s Legacy of Love and sponsoring a few loved ones going on a billboard in NJ where Kerri was born and raised. We will be launching a program for foster children and families and a program for Veterans and and our homeless communities. Our counseling services are not just provided for children, but families as well, including siblings and grandparents. We have partnered with Good Shepherd Memorial Gardens to do memorial butterfly releases during Bereaved Mother’s Day and Bereaved Parents Awareness month. We have an Angel Tree in Leesburg at Morrison United Methodist Church where members of the community can place ornaments on the tree year round in memory of a loved one and they can add a rock to the rock garden underneath the tree. We have also partnered now with Hiers-Baxley to work together providing events for the grieving communities. I do this to honor my children. It is their legacy. Every banner, every billboard, every sponsorship or bereavement box we can provide, every event and every time I can tell their stories it is keeping them alive and they are saving lives. They did not die in vain and I will continue to honor them for the rest of my life
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It was not a smooth road in the beginning. People tend to shy away from the topics of grief, child loss and overdose. So in the beginning it was a tough process to get others to understand why our programs are needed. I have since met so many others willing to support and help in anyway they can. We are partnering with organizations, community members and families to build a community that fosters a safe, healing environment. One where no fights alone, no one grieves alone. We will stand together and hold each other up.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
By trade, my profession is Teacher/Child Care Administrator so working with children struggling with loss, grief or mental health issues has always been something I am passionate about. But seeing families struggle through these times and being a parent who struggles myself I felt the need to expand and keep expanding on who I help. So I guess you could say I “specialize” in working with young children. I am proud of how far I have come especially since I didn’t think surviving the loss of Kerri was possible, if I am being honest. But because of her and Quinn and DJ I am able to offer comfort, empathy and support to others. I am proud to serve in this capacity because it is not just helping others but creating a legacy for my children. I know I have made a difference in former students lives by the fact that so many of them have stayed in contact with me and are now raising their own families. My families and clients know they can count on me and that is one of my greatest accomplishments.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
The reason we decided on The Dandelion Project was because when Kerri learned about DJ and we were discussing what we could do in his memory, I was also becoming certified as a Stillbirth Doula. One of the woman I was in class with commented on how much what Kerri and I wanted to do – spreading love to others – reminded her of how a dandelion spreads it’s seeds. She suggested we call the organization The Dandelion Project. I wasn’t crazy about the name. After a few weeks, however, Kerri was going through one of her more difficult periods and when she did she loved to doodle, draw or write. About 3:00am she text me a picture of a Dandelion. I immediately called her asking why she was texting me at 3:ooam to which being my daughter she responded “why are you answering?” That was her and her sense of humor. She was so much like me and I never realized it until close to the end. But I asked her if I had told her what the suggestion for the name was and she said no. When I told her it was a The Dandelion Project, she immediately squealed that we had a name. Today her drawing is the logo, along with my youngest son’s handprint from many years ago. My youngest stepdaughter helped tweaked it bit here and there. So all of my children had a role in the design. I love sharing that art of our origins!
Pricing:
- $47.99 to sponsor a box for a grieving family in honor of a loved one.
- We have donor and sponsorship levels as well
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dandelionproject.net/
- Instagram: DandelionProject24
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077553961320
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-bolton-ba-gc-c-gcca-c-ctrs-ec-bcmhc-98972729
