About
Each year, thousands of children across America are diagnosed with life-threatening, life-changing, and often-times fatal illnesses. Cancer, heart defects, muscular dystrophy, meningitis, life-saving organ transplantation and AIDS/HIV are just a few of the wide variety of maladies facing today's children. Research is constantly generating new paths of treatment and therapy and hopefully will one day be able to ensure our children a world of carefree days and unimpeded nights.
Unfortunately, that day is not yet here. In the mean time many families with critically and terminally ill children are being inundated with the high costs of medical bills, traveling expenses, parking fees, dining expenses and more. Many of the families referred to Patches of Light have one or more parent on an unpaid leave and find they are unable to pay for even the basic necessities of everyday life. When there is no viable income, there can only be a detrimental outcome.
Our mission at Patches of Light is to assist families with critically and terminally ill children so that they can remain together during their hospitalizations and treatments. Our funding is used to pay for past due mortgages, rent, and utilities. We provide phone cards, gas cards, grocery cards and parking tokens. Many parents do not even have the comfort of knowing whether they can make it to the hospital on a daily basis.
Patches of Light assists with emergencies such as: auto repairs, housing for long distance care, airline tickets, supporting families that stay at the Ronald McDonald House, extermination and/or purification items for bone-marrow patients homes and much more. We have assisted families throughout the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. We have also helped families from Africa, England, and Palestine.
Patches of Light is based and founded on the experiences of Rodney and Mindy Atwood. The Atwood's have experienced first hand the hardship, heartache and stress that accompanies having a critically ill child. In 1982 one of the Atwood's children (they have four boys) was diagnosed with a Wilm's Tumor.
In 1992, another of the Atwood's children was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and underwent open-heart surgery. Their compassion and dedication are fueled by these events.
Meet the Team
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Mindy Atwood
FOUNDER AND CEO
Patchesoflight@aol.com
Mindy Atwood is the founder and CEO of Patches of Light. Patches of Light was created based on experiences Mindy had dealing with two of her four children facing catastrophic health issues.
Mindy resides with her husband and Co-Founder of Patches of Light, Rod Atwood, her granddaughter Alexis Atwood, their dog Finnegan, and their Guinea Pig Craig.
Mindy is the mother of four sons and 7 grandchildren. Their lives are blessed, albeit crazy at times, but always enveloped with love. Mindy’s motto is: “Believe in the Light, Be the Light.” Her family is her light.
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Terri Botsko
BOARD DIRECTOR
tntbotsko@gmail.com
Terri serves as the President of the Board of Directors of Patches of Light. An attorney, currently employed at her family's business, Taylor Tire Company, she holds a degree in Political Science and Spanish from Indiana University (Go Hoosiers!) and her law degree from Capital University Law School. Terri has been married to Tom for 32 years and they have 2 sons – Alex who attends Ashland University and Nick who attends the University of Cincinnati. Terri is an avid reader (mostly romance novels and mysteries) and enjoys going on walks and to wine tastings.
Terri learned about Patches of Light when her oldest son was in 6th grade in the Hilliard City School district and they held a “penny war” to benefit Patches of Light. She met Mindy, was inspired by her story and has been sharing the Patches of Light story ever since! -
Tracy Stacy
VICE PRESIDENT
ladyread35@yahoo.com
Tracy serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors and has been a long time part of Patches of Light. She recently retired from Hilliard City Schools after 31 years.
Tracy lives in Marysville with her husband Arlen and together they have 2 beautiful daughters, and 5 grand babies.
Tracy met Mindy almost 30 years ago and watched her family struggle with 2 ill children before the organization was formed. Tracy knew she wanted to be part of this and has always felt that keeping and helping families stay together as they deal with having a critically ill child is one of the most rewarding parts of the work she does.
You will find Tracy planning many of our events and coordinating volunteer efforts with the Young Ambassadors in Hilliard. -
Missy Brown
BOARD MEMBER
Mabrown369@live.com
Being part of peoples' lives is Missy's calling. She is an 8th grade Language Arts teacher in the Hilliard City Schools and is married to Phil and they have 2 children- Natalie, a junior at OSU College of Dental Hygiene and Nick, a senior at Hilliard Darby. Missy's kids keep her busy with their sports and activities. She loves teaching and learning with her students and their families. She has played softball at The Ohio State University where she recived her BS in Human Ecology and her MA in Language and Literacy. Missy got her K-8 certification from Capital University and has also coached many sports. Currently, she helps coach the 7th grade softball team at Hilliard Memorial MS and is involved in the Oratorical competition as well as the NJHS and Honor's Recognition Night.When asked if she would like to be a part of Patches of Light, it was an easy decision. Helping others in need is a passion that she lives by and tries to instill in her own children and students. In her free time, Missy loves to camp and travel.
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Sandy Nowak
BOARD SECRETARY
joky2@icloud.com
Sandy serves as Secretary of the Board and Volunteer Coordinator of Patches of Light. She graduated from Miami University with a BA in Speech Communication and Public Relations. She has been married to her husband Marty for 33 years and has 3 sons- Josh, Kyle and Jake. She has worked 30+ years in retail management, she is now current owner of Hillgarten in downtown Hilliard. and human resources and has written and worked for WMUB radio station, GTR Advertising in Cleveland, and to this day still considers working for Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida the best job she ever had!After searching for an organization that helps families and children in need, Sandy learned about Paches of Light and heard Mindy's story and knew immediately that this was where she was supposed to be!
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Marie Pugsley
BOARD MEMBER
Mpugsleypatchesoflight@gmail.com
Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio Marie currently resides in Hilliard with her husband Eddie and their 2 sons, Ben and Adam. Marie also has 2 bonus sons, David and Scott, daughter-in-law Heather, and grandsons, Danny and Kai.
Marie has been an active board member with Patches of Light since 2009. After losing her niece Jadeyn due to a drowning accident Marie learned the best way to deal with her grief was by giving back to others.
Marie has been a licensed real estate agent since 2015 and is currently with Coldwell Banker Realty.
Marie makes a donation to Patches Of Light with every closing. -
Terry Lord
BOARD MEMBER
talord00@gmail.com
Terry is a retired teacher/librarian for Hilliard City Schools and first met Mindy Atwood through their mutual association with the district. Terry is the proud mother of 3 grown children and the grandmother of 5 wonderful grandchildren.
She fills her retirement years with many volunteer activities including working with the homeless, cooking for a local shelter and shelving books at our library. She also works the gates at many of the athletic games at our local middle and high schools. During her free time Terry enjoys taking walks, doing cross-stitch and reading.
Terry views her work with Patches of Light as a blessing and absolutely loves sending Hug Bags to children who need a little extra support and love.
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Debbie Steeb
BOARD MEMBER
Debbie Steeb is a recent addition to the Patches of Light Board. Debbie is new to the board, but not new to Patches of Light. Happily retired she now spends countless hours working to provide crafts, beautiful edible goodies, decorations and more to multiple pediatric cancer organizations across Ohio.
Debbie recognizes what a family needs due to the fact that she has personally experienced what Patches of Light stands for first hand. Her grandson, Aiden, is in remission from leukemia. Aiden is a childhood cancer warrior and an inspiration to all he meets, as is his grandmother. Debbie currently divides her time between her home in Palestine, Ohio and Indian Lake. Although, she swears that her favorite time and place is with her son and his family in Hilliard, OH.
Debbie is passing on her creative talents to her grandson and together they work diligently to make a difference in the lives of families struggling with a childhood cancer diagnosis. Debbie is always saying she is blessed to work with Patches of Light, however it is Patches of Light who is blessed.
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Kara Crowley
BOARD MEMBER
Born and raised near Akron, Ohio, Kara moved to Columbus to attend The Ohio State University. Kara graduated with an undergraduate degree in Sociology and a Masters in Education. Kara works as a Kindergarten teacher in Southwestern City Schools and lives with her husband (who is also a teacher) and their 2 children.
Kara is very involved in the PTO at both her school and her children's school and currently serves on The Hilliard School Board. Kara joined Patches of Light in 2021 and loved being a member so much that she joined The Patches Board in 2022!
Kara was raised with 2 sisters with life long illness and knows the importance of the work that Patches does to help families during the most difficult moments of their lives.
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Christine Hall
Christine Hall she has been a teacher for 34 years. Even though she has always loved working with children, she is excited about retiring at the end of the school year. She has been married for 32 years and has two children. My goal in life is to always be a positive light, especially when it comes to the children of the world. What better way to share a light then through Patches of Light. It’s a perfect match!!
