PERSON TO WATCH BY NICOLE PENSIERO
Susan Rose Establishing Lauren’s legacy
S
usan Rose is such an upbeat and dynamic person – such a “do-er”– that it’s hard to imagine her once being so debilitated by grief that, for a year, she “sat in a chair in a daze,” as she puts it.
But the very thing that once immobilized this energetic Cherry Hill mother of four and grandmother of 10 now energizes and inspires her: the love she holds for her late daughter, Lauren Rose Albert, who died 10 years ago in a fluke accident while on vacation in Morocco with her husband, Dr. Todd Albert, an orthopedic surgeon. Lauren, who was 40 at the time of her death, left behind three young kids, her heartbroken parents, siblings and husband. With a phone call that came shortly after Susan and her husband Stuart returned home from a hockey game, their lives were irrevocably changed. “Lauren had a smile that could light up a room,” recalls Susan, who has three other daughters. Even now, with the healing that comes only from time, she can still recall being “completely unprepared for the depth of the grief” she felt after losing her eldest child so cruelly and unexpectedly. “You never think you will outlive your children…it wasn’t even in my consciousness, that possibility,” she says. The onetime registrar of deeds for Camden County, Rose recalls spending many painful weeks and months after Lauren’s death “journaling and walking in the park, and repeating a mantra I had created: Get me through this day.” Consumed by grief and unable to drive to her job in Trenton – “I absolutely could not concentrate enough to do that” – she ended up having to quit. A few months after Lauren’s death, two PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID MICHAEL HOWARTH
of Susan Rose’s longtime friends suggested she think about creating some sort of lasting memorial to her daughter. From that suggestion, the Lauren Rose Albert Foundation (LRAF) was created. Its simple mission: to “bring support into the lives of women in need and help them reach their potential,” as Susan Rose puts it. “When we established the foundation in 2000, we wanted it to reflect Lauren’s character and strengths, as well as her love of family,” Susan says. “Lauren, first and foremost, was a mother – and I knew she’d be pleased that we did something to help moms. We envisioned an organization that would serve not only as a resource and advocate for women in need but also as a champion for their families as well.” One of the first people who helped Susan Rose and her family transform the vision into reality was her one-time political opponent Jim Beach, who had beaten her out for the Camden County clerk’s seat in 1995. “When Jim heard about what we wanted to do, he brought together community leaders who met every month for a year to help lay the groundwork,” she recalls. “He lifted me out of my rocking chair and put me back on my feet. His friendship was an unexpected – and wonderful – gift.” The Lauren Rose Albert Foundation raises most of its money through an annual fashion show that features a program book with advertising and a silent auction. The money raised is used SJ MAGAZINE ■ JUNE 2009 27
to award scholarships for working women – often single mothers – who are putting themselves through college in an attempt to “build a better life for themselves and their children,” Susan Rose says. “In the beginning, we were operating solely on instinct. I knew what I wanted to do – even though I wasn’t sure how to do it,” she recalls.“I just kept moving forward and, through the goodness and caring of others, we created something lasting and worthwhile in Lauren’s name.” One tradition that seems to have taken on a life of its own is the foundation’s annual Mothers Matter gift-basket project. Established in 2001, the project meets the organization’s goal to “identify women’s unmet needs that we could realistically address. “One such need, personal care and beauty items, got us thinking about doing a collection drive,” Rose recalls.“Someone suggested we do this on Mothers’ Day – and wouldn’t it be nice to put the various products in baskets and wrap them up nicely? Another group member wrote a $100 check to cover the project’s start-up costs, and we never looked back.” The LRAF collected enough toiletries
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that first year to fill and distribute 265 gift baskets to four area day-care centers and two women’s shelters in Camden County. By the second year, the group had branched out, soliciting support from local businesses and asking area schools to hold collection drives. Things snowballed from there. Last year, the LRAF filled and delivered 2,215 Mother’s Day gifts to more than 40 locations in SJ and Philadelphia – daycare centers, women’s shelters, hospital pediatric units, medical day-care centers, nursing and veterans’ homes and women’s agencies. This year, the group collected more than 35,000 beauty items and toiletries to put together more than 2,500 gift baskets – bringing the number of total bags distributed to nearly 13,000 since the project’s inception. “This project, which is quite laborintensive, is accomplished solely by volunteers,” Rose says. “This year, we even had members of a motorcycling club from Deptford – guys included – help us put together the gift baskets.” In fact, for several weeks, a Washington Township community center was turned into an assembly line of sorts, where literally
dozens of volunteers compiled the various beauty items – putting 10 to 15 items in each bag – four nights a week, until the gift baskets were completed. “We began unloading cartons of donated items in late March and then every single product was checked to make sure it was unused, clean and appropriate,” Rose explains, adding that hotel samples, winter or holiday products, and clothing are not put into the Mother’s Day gift baskets – but are donated to women’s shelters. Once a sufficient number of cartons and bins were unloaded onto worktables, the gift baskets were filled, coordinated
deserving women pay for their textbooks at six participating colleges. West Deptford resident Lisa Charon, a legally blind single mom who has suffered from several health issues, won book scholarships from the LRAF in 2005 and 2006, when she More than 2,500 gift bags were distributed on Mother’s Day was beginning her studies either by theme or color. During the week at Gloucester County College. In addition prior to Mother’s Day, foundation volun- to shedding more than 100 pounds in the teers delivered the gift baskets. past two years in an effort to improve her “It’s a true labor of love, but such a health, Charon recently graduated from rewarding project and so appreciated by Rutgers University – Camden with a these women and their family members,” degree in psychology and a 3.95 grade Rose says, adding that another major point average. ongoing project of the LRAF is its “The scholarships made a huge differWomen’s Scholarship Program, which ence and definitely kept me motivated,” provides grants to low-income, head-of- Charon says. “Susan is so many people household women to help them pay for wrapped up in one little package. She’s a college textbooks. friend, she’s like your mom, and for me, “This particular financial burden on she’s been a mentor, too.” low-income working women who are Stuart Rose describes his wife in trying to better themselves through educa- equally glowing terms, recalling how she tion is often overlooked,” Rose says. Over volunteered to be a Girl Scout troop the past six years, the LRAF has awarded leader when she was pregnant with her nearly 400 grants of $250 each to help fourth child “because she knew they
needed someone. “She’s a lady of kindness and gentility,” Stuart Rose says. “The loss of Lauren had such a tremendous impact and for a long time left Susan in such a state of profound grief. But over time she made some sense of the loss and has built this organization, which makes a real difference in people’s lives.” Susan Rose, for her part, sees the Lauren Rose Albert Foundation continuing to grow and thrive. “My dream is to keep growing the foundation’s efforts,” she says. Rose plans to expand services to “serve as a resource for women who might otherwise fall through the cracks.” The LRAF has begun a pilot program, in fact, that will partner with area agencies to provide “financial or other resources for their clients who cannot find help and support elsewhere.” “We are committed to doing the right thing for women in need,” Rose says. “That’s what it has always been about, and it’s what Lauren would want us to do.” For more information about the Lauren Rose Albert Foundation (LRAF) visit laurenslegacy.org ■
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