Lisa Louden's daughter Alexis MacKenzie Louden was stillborn in 2004. Twenty-two years later, the Boone County public school teacher runs a volunteer nonprofit that provides free memory boxes, burial assistance, bereavement doula services and a monthly support group to families across Northern Kentucky who face the same grief.

Missing Alexis, the Florence-based nonprofit Louden founded with husband Glenn, incorporated in 2008 after a group of grieving mothers who met at Bar Louie at Newport on the Levee turned one night of shared loss into a regular gathering. That gathering became the HEARTS of Northern Kentucky peer-led support group, which now meets the second Monday of each month from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Florence Methodist Church, 8585 Old Toll Road, Florence. Details are available on the HEARTS support group page.

The nonprofit's services cost families nothing. Missing Alexis covers burial and funeral expenses and pays for bereavement doula Rebecca Jahnigen's work with families. Memory boxes include handprint and footprint kits, keepsakes, books, a blanket and a copy of "Mommy, please don't cry: there are no tears in heaven."

It started small.

On Alexis's first birthday in July 2005, Louden and Glenn hand-delivered homemade memory boxes to other grieving families. Each cardboard box held a onesie, a journal, a disposable camera and a burned CD of songs Louden loved. She painted loving messages on the outside.

In 2024, the nonprofit opened the Butterfly Suite at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Edgewood, a quiet room dedicated to grieving families. The room is the same one where Alexis was born.

"Sometimes that's the only time they hear their babies' names outside of the hospital setting or family talking about the baby," Louden told the Cincinnati Enquirer in an Aug. 5 article, describing the annual NKY Walk to Remember's roll call of names.

Kendra Roenker, a Floral Hills Family Service Counselor and Missing Alexis board member, was one of the original women who gathered at Bar Louie in 2008 after losing her first pregnancy to miscarriage. She led the effort to install a miscarriage memorial bench at Floral Hills Memorial Garden Cemetery on Taylor Mill Road. Bronze butterflies of different colors decorate the bench. One reads: "Baby Roenker. Our first miracle, loved beyond words."

The 19th annual NKY Walk to Remember is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 4. The free event includes a roll call of babies' names and ends with a butterfly release. Families can purchase mile markers engraved with their babies' names. The walk venue has not been confirmed; details will be posted at missingalexis.org.

Yard signs promoting the walk are available for pickup Monday, Aug. 10, at 6 p.m. at Florence Methodist Church, according to the nonprofit's Facebook page.

Upcoming

• HEARTS support group: Second Monday of each month, 6:30–8 p.m., Florence Methodist Church, 8585 Old Toll Road, Florence. Free.
• Walk to Remember yard sign pickup: Monday, Aug. 10, 6 p.m., Florence Methodist Church.
• 19th Annual NKY Walk to Remember: Sunday, Oct. 4. Free. Details at missingalexis.org.