"Every now and then one paints a picture that seems to have opened a door and serves as a stepping stone to other things."
- Pablo Picasso -
After four years of grief, Lynn decided to do something to honor the life of her best friend and sister Melissa by helping others in their battle with eating disorders. Lynn brought the very first National Eating Disorder Walk (NEDA) to Charlotte, NC in the fall of 2011. During this time she meet a young woman, Katie Brumely Rodriguez, who offered to volunteer her time as an event walk coordinator. Katie partnered with Lynn in the NEDA Walk event planning and execution. During this time, Katie shared with Lynn that she had been battling an eating disorder since she was in her early teens and had not been able to afford treatment. It was heartbreaking for Lynn to see such a beautiful young woman so bravely acknowledge her eating disorder and yet so hopeless. Lynn knew she had to do something immediately to help Katie.
On a walk through Myers Park, Lynn strolled through the doors of an exquisite art gallery, Allison Sprock Fine Art. She was immediately captivated by the beautiful paintings of women in gorgeous full figure form. She wished the whole world could see what she was seeing! Lynn was particularly inspired with a beautiful painting Nude Back by world famous Russian artist Marc Chatov. The woman in the portrait reminded Lynn so much of her beautiful sister Melissa. She knew this was a guided sign!
As Lynn walked home, the idea came to her to host a gallery crawl event to create awareness of eating disorders and to raise funds to help pay for Katie's treatment. Lynn called on everyone she knew to include her friends in the gallery business, restaurants, musicians, wine vendors, dessert companies, artists, professionals from the eating disorder treatment and nutrition community, family, friends and acquaintances. Lynn's idea was met with enthusiasm and immediate support. The community rallied to create an unforgettable event, Sip and Savour Myers Park Gallery Crawl. The event raised enough funds to help pay for Katie's Intensive Outpatient Program. The first HOPE Scholarship was presented to Katie during the NEDA Walk Event one month later.
Melissa’s Voice Foundation Inc. was established to create awareness to eating disorders, speak out about body image issues, educate those suffering and their families on the professional resources available and raise funds for the HOPE Scholarship. The HOPE Scholarship provides financial support to those in need of treatment. Melissa's Voice Foundation, Inc. proudly became a 501c3 in early 2013. Since its inception and through subsequent fundraising events has been able to provided HOPE Scholarships too many more individuals in need of help.