About

The Foundation’s Fundamental Work/Goal:

The 4 heartbeats of the Mimi Fly: Love, empathy, kindness, and empowerment

Empathy: Educate/support people in ways to heal from loss/grief/personal trauma through the arts, nature and spiritual healing practices.

Love: Support youth via scholarships/awards that recognize key values that embody our mission and vision.

Empowerment: Support therapeutic programs that would otherwise be unavailable to people within their eligible insurance benefits, to promote mental wellbeing, healing, and personal growth.

Kindness: Community outreach/charitable donations to reach the vulnerable, disenfranchised, or underserved populations.

 

About:
This foundation was created to carry on the life work of Maria

Jane Turco. To fully appreciate the significance of Maria’s of life

and legacy, it is important to know her story and understand her

passion.

Maria was beautiful both inside and out, a genuine, kind, loving soul.

Maria dedicated her time giving to others, spreading love and joy in

whatever she was doing. She was un-relentlessly herself in everything
she did, and everything she believed in. She never compromised what

she stood for to pacify others.

Maria helped give others a voice when they were unable to do so for themselves. Maria was “all in”
when she loved and she gave it so freely, without the fear of getting hurt, getting judged or criticized
and never had the expectation of getting anything in return.

Family and friends were extremely important, if not the most important thing to Maria. Maria cherished
all her roles, she was a daughter, a girlfriend, (and in her final days a wife), an aunt, a sister, a niece, a
cousin, and a friend to so many. Maria’s love for her husband Paul, their love for each other, is
something that only a few get to experience, truly a love of a lifetime. Her connection with her younger
brother Nick was nothing short of incredible, the two of them were as thick as thieves and had an
unspoken language most would never be able to understand. Maria was known as Aunt Mimi to all her
nieces and nephews. She had a magical way of connecting with all of them and creating a special bond,
each one of them felt her love. To Maria, her friends were her family and her heart had room for
everyone.

​

Maria graduated from Penfield high school in 2009 and then Nazareth college in 2013 with her degree in
social work. Despite her aggressive treatment schedule over the last year of her life, Maria was able to
complete her master’s degree from the University of New Hampshire and received her diploma during
her last days in hospice care. Maria was determined to finish her studies and become a MSW. Her dream
was to work with the disenfranchised and underserved youth in a private practice setting.

Maria put in countless hours connecting with young people, it truly was her passion. Over the years
Maria found many ways to work with children; whether it was her drum circles, teenage girl support
groups, internships working with children of refugee status, participating in, or leading many programs
that supported kids with different abilities, or empowering young girls to find their inner princess. Maria
always just knew the right way to connect with people and what they needed to feel special and
included and promoting dignity and humanity.

Throughout Maria’s life she found great joy in the arts. As a younger girl Maria was passionate about art
class, expressing herself through painting and projects. As a young adult Maria took up ballet dancing.
Music was always a huge part of Maria’s life. Maria loved to feel and truly experience music, whether it
was listening, singing, or dancing. Even in her final days, when asked what words she wanted to leave
for her younger brother Nick, she decided to make up a song. For as sick as she was, she found the
strength to sing and dance from her bed. One of her greatest joys with music was sharing it with her
husband Paul, it created many memorable moments for them. In the last few years of Maria’s life she
joined a small theater group called The Cobblestone Players, her love for performing blossomed and
acting became very important to her and part of her identity. Regardless of if she was behind the stage
helping with the production or front and center of the crowd, Maria was a star.

Sadly, Maria’s life was far too short. At the age of 29, she lost her courageous battle with cancer. Despite
the medical struggles in the last year of her life, Maria never gave up on her ambition to spread love,
empathy, kindness, and empowerment. Maria had a zest for life and a spirit that could not be broken.
She has left quite a legacy for as young as she was, along with many valuable lessons. Maria had the
ability to touch a remarkable number of people, therefore leaving a huge imprint on this world. At the
end of Maria’s journey here on Earth, her final thoughts were not ones of selfishness or anger, as
someone in her position so rightfully may have, but rather it was thoughts of her family and friends and
how they would cope with the loss. Even in the darkest of moments she created love and light and that
is how she will always be remembered. Because of this Mimi’s Light was born.

All areas of Maria’s life and story were focused on giving love, empathy, kindness, and empowerment.
Her mission was to spread these core values to everyone and everything she touched. Now it is our
mission, our passion, and our work. As Maria’s family and friends, we want to continue Maria’s goal of
making this world a better place, simply by giving people what everyone deserves. From her hospital
bed, during one of her last moments of consciousness Maria stated, “no matter what love looks like, it
comes in all shapes and sizes, it doesn’t matter who it’s with, everyone deserves it.”