Angel of Hope needs contributions, home

By Pam Pollan, Contributing Writer Shrewsbury 01/06/2006

Shrewsbury - Linda Bilodeau is looking for a few more financial angels to make her vision of a park for bereaved parents and families a reality. According to Bilodeau, who spearheads the local Christmas Box Angel of Hope, the Christmas Box Angel Park will be dedicated to all the children who were gone too soon, including her daughter, Jill Bilodeau, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2001. "The loss of a child is insurmountable, and as a parent we need to keep their light shining with our love," Bilodeau said. "It is in reaching out to others who are so consumed with this horrific pain and grief that our children's memory and spirit lives on."

Bilodeau is proposing an angel statue four feet, three inches tall, with a wing span of five feet, two inches. It will be placed on a base with a garden around it. She is hoping the site will bring hope, serenity and peace to grieving families. Since Thanksgiving 2005, Bilodeau has raised more than $10,000 in donations, which will go toward the cost of $12,500 for the angel and additional expenses for the base, pavers, bricks and benches, which Camosse Masonry has offered to discount for the project. Individuals, families and companies can purchase an engraved brick for $100 or a bench for $1,000.

Bilodeau hopes that someone will donate the land and that the project will be completed by Dec. 6, the anniversary of the first Christmas Box Angel Park statue's dedication and the day that candlelit ceremonies will take place around the world at various Christmas Box Angel gardens.

Richard Paul Evans's best-selling book and television movie, "The Christmas Box Angel," told of a bereaved mother mourning the loss of her baby at the base of an angel statue in a Salt Lake City cemetery. When Evans later learned that the statue was destroyed, he had another commissioned to take its place. The statue drew visitors from near and far as people learned of the story.

To date, there are 61 Christmas Box Angel gardens in the world and more than 50 more in the works, Bilodeau said. The nearest ones are in Easthampton and Westerly, Rhode Island, she said.

To contribute, checks payable to The Christmas Box Angel can be sent to The Christmas Box Angel, c/o Westborough Savings Bank, P.O. Box 670, Westborough MA 01581. For more information, contact Bilodeau at (508) 842-6001 or at daisy0909@aol.com.