Light One Little Candle Light One Little Candle Foundation Expands Book Program to The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing at Central Maine Medical Center Dempsey Center to provide free children’s books to parents who are undergoing treatment at cancer center. February 5, 2009 LEWISTON, ME -- The Light One Little Candle Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes reading for parents and caregivers with cancer as a way to connect with their children, is teaming up with The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing at Central ME Medical Center this February. “We are so pleased to bring The Dempsey Center into our growing family of hospitals and cancer organizations and we look forward to helping caregivers and children in Maine bond through books,” said Lee Rosenberg, Executive Director and President of Light One Little Candle. “We anticipate being able to serve approximately three- to four hundred families per year in the Central and Western Maine region alone.  Supporting children and families who have been affected by a parent or grandparent’s cancer is an important part of our work here in the Dempsey Center, and we are very pleased to partner with Light One Little Candle in this endeavor,” noted Kerry Irish, Program Director of The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing.  The collaboration between The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing and the Foundation allows the hospital to distribute new children's books to these patients living with cancer.  Patients will choose books from the Light One Little Candle collection to bring home to their families and use them to create lasting memories with their children.  The book is theirs to keep. Patients are encouraged to write notes about the story or the experience of reading together on a special Light One Little Candle bookplate already pasted into the book, creating a keepsake for their children to turn to again and again.  Children’s classics, including Goodnight Moon, Charlotte’s Web, Where the Wild Things Are and Madeline, as well as numerous other storybooks, are available.  Some children’s books are offered in foreign languages such as  Somalian, Arabic, Italian and Spanish. “When I heard about Light One Little Candle’s mission I immediately thought what a great fit it is for us.  We welcome the program and the role that it will play in our continued dedication to offering high-quality support services to families touched by cancer,” said Patrick Dempsey. About Light One Little Candle The Light One Little Candle Foundation was created by Dr. Joelle Pauporte, a young mother and psychiatrist dying of breast cancer. During the course of her illness, she discovered that no matter how sick, exhausted or overwhelmed she felt, she and her daughter could find comfort sitting together and reading.  In partnership with hospitals and cancer care centers, Light One Little Candle provides new children’s books to those patients undergoing treatment.  Additionally, the books come with special bookplates for patients to write notes and memories that their children will treasure. Including the new Dempsey Center program, there are ten Light One Little Candle Programs distributing 20 to 50 books a month per facility. The program is currently available at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, CT, MidState Medical Center in Meriden, CT, Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, CT, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London, CT, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and  CancerCare in NY, the Dana-Farber/Brigham & Women’s Cancer Center and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA, and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center in La Jolla, CA. For more information or to make a donation, please visit our website at www.lightonelittlecandle.org or contact Lee Rosenberg, Executive Director and President: lee@lightonelittlecandle.org  | (516) 767-8787.