A new event to benefit Children’s Hospital Foundation (CHF) featured a local author and highlighted the effects of drug addiction on families. Held April 19 at The Commonwealth Club, Words & Wisdom featured a lunch program and Q&A session with Lynda Harrison Hatcher, author of “Mothering Addiction.”

“The topic of addiction is timely,” said Joyce Winters, president of the Senior Board of CHF, of the book’s selection. “Almost every single person, if not touched in your own family, knows someone who has been impacted and challenged with some type of addiction. Lynda’s story is a memoir of what happens in a family when a child is derailed by drugs.”

Members of the Senior Board, a group of more than 80 women who donate their time to raise funds for CHF through a variety of activities including the Children Fore Children golf tournament, Change for Children coin collection campaign, and Sunshine Gift Shop at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU’s Brook Road Campus, formed a planning committee to coordinate the inaugural event. Three hundred twenty-five people attended the nearly sold-out event, which raised more than $36,000 for the Foundation through ticket sales, a raffle and donations.

“It’s an important story,” said Madeline Mayhood, a member of the Words & Wisdom planning committee. “Lynda addresses the shame and guilt that cripples families and addicts in a deeply moving way. And by doing so, she sheds much-needed light on this incredibly devastating disease.”