We are so excited to have found a way to give back to the community that has supported us through our darkest times. – Sunny Mahe
BYU running backs coach Reno Mahe and his wife Sunny have established a foundation to honor their daughter Elsie, who died last December after an accident in the family home.
In a Facebook post Friday, Sunny Mahe announced that the Miracles from Elsie Foundation has been set up with three aims in mind: financial support for families experiencing medical crises, organ donation support and awareness and grief counseling for families who have lost children or other loved ones.
"We are so excited to have found a way to give back to the community that has supported us through our darkest times," she wrote.
Noting in the post how it was helpful to be able to pay for a wide variety of things after Elsie's accident, from paying medical bills to flying family members in to perhaps less obvious things such as gold-sequined shoes that reminded her of Elsie and pink glitter to remember her daughter's favorite color, Sunny Mahe wrote, "We hope to be able to help other families do those kinds of things."
Writing about organ donation, Mahe noted the healing the family found knowing their daughter would help others live. Referencing Isaiah 61:3 from the Old Testament, Mahe said organ donation "is such a simple way to find 'beauty for ashes.'"
As for the third objective of the new foundation, Mahe told of the challenge of not only grieving herself and with her husband, but also with helping their other six children grieve.
"I felt overwhelmed with my own grief and ill-equipped to mother grieving children," she wrote. "Grief counseling has helped us find our footing and build the foundation for our family's new normal."
The foundation's first event will be June 17 at the grand opening of Nekter in Lehi, where a portion of the sales will be donated to Miracles for Elsie.