It’s a Hard Road When a Parent Dies With No Life Insurance

Meet Melina. She is one of the most remarkable and determined young woman I have ever met. Take just 60 seconds to watch her story:

It took courage for her to share such a personal story of losing her mother and how she had to work so hard to get where she is. Melina was selected to be in a first-ever public service announcement (PSA) for the LIFE Lessons Scholarship Program.

This is a very important program that helps college-bound students who’ve lost a parent achieve a dream of a college education. Unfortunately, these students experience financial difficulties due to a parent dying with little or no life insurance. Each year, we receive thousands of scholarship applications, and since the program’s inception, we have awarded a total of $600,000 in scholarships. But for every student who receives a scholarship, we must turn thousands more away. In an effort to bring more attention to this powerful program we decided to create this PSA—to share Melina’s story.

The PSA was shot in Las Vegas on a sweltering 110-degree summer day. We scouted multiple locations for the shoot, including my favorite—Anthem Park. Melina said she would often visit this nature viewpoint to clear her mind and briefly forget her mom’s terminal illness. The viewpoint overlooks all of Las Vegas. Although it was a small hike to get up there, it was a breathtaking view. We shot right at dusk when all the city lights were turning on. It was incredible and surprisingly peaceful in such a famously noisy town.

I remember Melina saying she can now go to that spot not in sadness, but in appreciation of how far she has come. When we were together, she also said how thankful she was for the LIFE Lessons Scholarship Program for helping to get her life back on track, and credits her scholarship with lifting a lot of financial weight off her shoulders.

There are still thousands of students like Melina who are struggling mightily without their parent  or parents and need a helping hand. You can help with you tax-deductible donation. To donate to the LIFE Lessons Scholarship Program, click here.

And lastly, I would just like to ask the parents reading this who have young children to think about the consequences of not having life insurance or enough of it. Would you want what happened to Melina to happen to your children? If not, take action now to get the coverage you need. Start here.