TOPSHAM – On Saturday, Sept. 16 in Topsham, Fleetwood Mac tribute band Crystal Vision hopes all will flock to the Orion Performing Arts Center for a benefit concert. The concert and silent auction will benefit Madeline’s Mission, a 501c3 nonprofit headquartered in Bath that supports families that are grieving the loss of a child. The concert will help launch the nonprofit’s newest endeavor, a children’s memorial garden located on the Midcoast Hospital Parkview Campus in Brunswick.
The Crystal Vision concert will be Sept. 16 at the Orion Performing Arts Center in Topsham (Mt. Ararat Middle School) doors open at 2 p.m. (2:30 to enter the theater) with the concert at 3 p.m. Tickets are $18 each and kids 5 and under are free. Tickets are available at madelinemission.org or mmcrystalvision.eventbrite.com.
There will also be a silent auction to help raise funds to benefit the Madeline’s Mission Memorial Garden scholarship program, so that any family surviving pregnancy/infant/child loss can have a butterfly in the garden with their child’s name on it should they want one.
“We are beyond grateful for Crystal Vision’s support on this benefit concert,” said Amie Marzen, president Madeline’s Mission and Madeline’s mom. “It truly warms my heart the amazing community support we have for families of child loss. This garden will allow the families we serve a place to come together to find commonality in their peers, and remove some of the isolation that comes with this out of order loss. So it seems so fitting to come together and rock out to make this vision a reality.”
The Madeline’s Mission Butterfly Garden is a project in progress on the Midcoast Hospital Parkview Campus in Brunswick. Recently, the granite stones were placed by Chris Tanguay of Maine Dry Stone to be the foundation for a 3D monument where personalized butterflies will be installed, each in memory of a child or baby gone too soon.
The space also features artwork by Maine artist Judy O’Donnell, depicting a bee pollinating a large red daisy. Soon, with the support of Jen Dunlap from the Maine Botanical Gardens, plants and bulbs will help enhance the natural beauty of the space with flowers, shrubs and blooms. The butterflies will be engraved locally by Lorelei Vella designs and are being fabricated in Vermont by Fieldstone Artistry’s BR Delaney. The use of the space is generously gifted by Midcoast Parkview Hospital.
“We have big dreams for this space, but as a nonprofit we’re working through it incrementally. We’re all unpaid volunteers and are pulling together our talents to create a space that’s whimsical and light. I hope that bereaved siblings and parents can come to this space when they need to reflect, or on special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries, to visit this beautiful flutter of butterflies and feel their child is always near in their hearts,” said Marzen.
For more information contact Amie Marzen, Madeline’s Mission, at [email protected] or go to madelinemission.org.
