Modern Widows Club

10/21/2026

Our 2026 Legacy Award honoree, Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor (Mary-Frances O'Connor), accepts this honor and shares how she first came to understand widowhood through her grandmother, who was carried through her loss by her strong sisters. Being raised among such powerful women shaped the scientist she is today!

Enjoy this short clip from her inspiring speech on why community is so vital in widowhood, and how that support creates a lasting impact that ripples across generations. 🩵

10/21/2026

Celebrating our 2025 and 2026 MWC Legacy & Leadership Award honorees over lunch in New York City! What an honor to bring these remarkable women together and hear the stories of their unique journeys through widowhood.

Back row: MWC Founder Carolyn Moor and 2026 Leadership Award honoree Angelica Berrie
Front row: 2025 Legacy Award honoree Dr. Marissa Magsino and 2025 Leadership Award honoree Cindy Price

We found so many common threads, and a shared hope for humanity. Inspiring and compassionate: such a beautiful combination. This is our wisterhood: widow sisters (wisters) supporting one another. 🩵

Carolyn Caple Moor Marissa Estiva Magsino Cindy Price healthywidowhealthywoman legendarywidows

10/20/2026

Today is the day! Our 2026 Legacy & Leadership Awards are finally here!

Tonight, Modern Widows Club® will gather in Jersey City, New Jersey, for a special evening dedicated to celebrating remarkable women whose leadership, dedication, and commitment to others continue to create a lasting impact.

We are proud to recognize this year's distinguished honorees:

Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor | 2026 Legacy Award Recipient

Through her groundbreaking research on grief, Dr. O'Connor has helped advance our understanding of how the brain processes loss and how bereavement affects our physical and emotional wellbeing.

Angelica Berrie | 2026 Leadership Award Recipient

Through her philanthropic leadership and dedication to meaningful community impact, Angelica Berrie exemplifies the importance of using influence and resources to support and uplift others.

This evening is about more than recognizing achievements. It's about celebrating individuals whose contributions inspire progress, strengthen communities, and help create a brighter future.

📅 October 20, 2026
🕠 5:30 PM
📍 Liberty House | Jersey City, New Jersey

It's not too late to join us! There's still time to purchase your ticket and be part of this special celebration.
bit.ly/LegacyLeadership2026

We look forward to celebrating with you tonight!

10/20/2026

WIDOW by NJ Artist Alexandra López,
Interactive Textile Installation will be featured at our Oct. 20 MWC Legacy & Leadership event tomorrow evening.

Attendees will walk around her sculpture and listen to her poem. Each interaction triggers audio recordings of Absences, a poem composed by the artist and recited in Spanish, English, and sung. Touch transforms the work into an intimate encounter with grief, reaching where words cannot.

ITP-NYU Gallery | New York, USA
- “An immersive textile sculpture that invites viewers into a visceral, poetic meditation on loss, grief, and the enduring cultural stigma that continues to shadow widows’ identities.
Today’s widowhood: invisible and everywhere.”

The piece, set within a vertical wooden loom, takes the form of a deconstructed cage skirt.

Through its use of torn black textiles, embroidery. and embedded electronics, Widow reinterprets traditional Victorian mourning garments to embody the unraveling and social marginalization experienced by women in widowhood.

Alexandra Lopez graduated with a
Master of Professional Studies from New York University and is an MWC wister (widow sister) living in New Jersey. https://www.alexandra-lopez.com

10/19/2026

MWC is excited for our 2026 Legacy & Leadership Awards Event tomorrow Oct. 20.

Honoring Legacy Award Mary-Frances O'Connor Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor, and Leadership Award to Angelica Berrie.

We’re wishing you all could be with us (you will be in spirit) and it’s perfect fall weather 🍁🍂

So grateful to our event sponsor New York Life Foundation for making this possible- along with our amazing event committee volunteers and HQ team efforts.

Beside our sponsored tables and auction sponsor American Fundraising Foundation we’re excited to welcome a full room of attendees.

10/18/2026

Grief doesn't just affect the heart. It can affect the entire body. Research shows that the first six months following a loss can be a particularly vulnerable time for physical health.

- Meet Neuroscientist Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor explores why bereavement can increase stress and certain health risks, and what these findings mean for caring for the grieving body.

MWC is honored to recognize Dr. O’Connor, author of The Grieving Brain and The Grieving Body, as our 2026 Legacy Award recipient!

Join us October 20 at Liberty House in Jersey City as we celebrate her contributions to grief research and widow wellbeing.
🎟️ Tickets: https://bit.ly/LegacyLeadership2026

10/17/2026

Meet our 2026 MWC Leadership Honoree: Angelica Berrie 🌟
- Angelica Berrie’s story is one of transformation. She grew up in Catholic convent schools in the Philippines, stood with nuns in front of military tanks during the People Power Revolution, and later built a new life in New Jersey with her late husband, entrepreneur Russ Berrie.

When she became a widow, she didn’t just carry his legacy forward. She made it her own. As President of the Russell Berrie Foundation, Angelica has become one of New Jersey’s most thoughtful philanthropists, and she literally wrote the book on purposeful giving: A Passion for Giving: Tools and Inspiration for Creating a Charitable Foundation.

In her essay for DISRUPT 4.0 with Foundation for Filipina Women's Network “Becoming Ruth: A Transformational Journey,” she calls widowhood a master class in leadership, the kind of personal transformation that leads us to our own source of power. She also writes about the work of MWC and founder Carolyn Moor, how our movement to create and inspire a million widow leaders globally is so important.

Angelica and Carolyn have known each other since 2014, and their friendship has grown over a shared passion for widow advocacy. For more than a decade, Angelica has been a believer in what widows can become, and a champion of this movement.

She lives the truth that widows forged in crisis can become the leaders the world needs. We are honored to celebrate her with the 2026 MWC Leadership Award.

📅 Tuesday, October 20 | 5:30 PM
📍 Liberty House, Jersey City, NJ
🎟️ Register: bit.ly/LegacyLeadership2026

Meet Angelica, join our inspiring awards event and dinner. A night to remember.

10/16/2026

Booth setup, one more time! 🩵 Next week MWC heads to New Jersey and New York and DC to meet new individuals and MWC members who might not heard of us yet. Sharing our program support is an honor.

Thank you to every volunteer since 2011 who has helped spread the word- told their story. You’re the reason we’ve grown, one share at a time. 🦋

Your turn: how would you explain MWC to someone who’s never heard of us? Tell us in the comments. 👇

10/15/2026

Only 5 DAYS to go! On October 20, Modern Widows Club® | The Movement for Widow Care® will gather at Liberty House in Jersey City for our 2026 Legacy & Leadership Awards.
Event Tickets: bit.ly/LegacyLeadership2026

Widowhood can impact so many areas of a woman’s life—her physical and emotional health, financial wellbeing, sense of security, relationships, and future. Creating meaningful change begins by bringing those experiences into the conversation and recognizing those helping advance widow care.

This year, we’re honored to recognize:

2026 Legacy Award — Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor
Neuroscientist and author of The Grieving Brain and The Grieving Body

2026 Leadership Award — Angelica Berrie
President of the Russell Berrie Foundation

October 20, 2026
5:30 PM EST
Liberty House | Jersey City, NJ

Join us for an evening of connection, recognition, and impact as we continue working toward a world where widows are seen, supported, and empowered.

We hope to see you in 5 days!

Click the link below to reserve your spot today!
bit.ly/LegacyLeadership2026

10/15/2026

Grateful to NJ Governor Mikie Sherrill for recognizing Modern Widows Club®️ | The Movement for Widow Care® (MWC) and the importance of our upcoming ~
2026 Legacy & Leadership Awards on October 20 at Liberty House in Jersey City, where we'll honor two remarkable women: Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor and New Jersey philanthropist and humanitarian Angelica Berrie.

It's rare for a governor to know her state's statistics.

But this is New Jersey, a state that sees its 357,000 widows and is leading the widowhood movement with real results.

New Jersey passed the Grief Bill to bring grief education into schools, and became the first state to officially recognize International Widows Day on June 23, standing alongside the United Nations. Thanks to NJ Senator Gordon Johnson.

We're thankful for everyone supporting this work, especially our key sponsor grant, the New York Life Insurance Company Foundation, for its leadership in national bereavement care philanthropy 🩵. As well as, an event grant from NJ’s Russell Berrie Foundation in recognizing visionary people and nonprofits of impact.

Read more: https://www.einpresswire.com/article/949065206/nj-governor-mikie-sherrill-recognizes-modern-widows-club-shining-a-light-on-new-jersey-s-357-000-widows

The public and MWC members are invited to join our inspiring event, learn more or register: { link in comments }

NJ Governor's letter honors 2026 MWC Legacy & Leadership Awardees Angelica Berrie and Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor