‘Annie Effect’ helps annual Angel Tree campaign in memory of baby daughter

By Lethbridge Herald on June 22, 2023.

Bekah Olsen, at left, alongside Lethbridge Family Services’ Michelle Gallucci, piles up donations for the Angel Tree campaign in memory of her baby daughter Annie, on Thursday at the Angel Tree office. Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – apulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The Lethbridge Family Services Angel Tree Christmas campaign has received an early donation from a family honouring their baby daughter who would have turned one year old this month.

On June 20 Annie Rae Olsen would have celebrated her first birthday, but she passed away in her sleep on October 2022. Her mom, Bekah Olsen, said she left her daughter with her mother-in-law while getting her hair done, and when Annie went down for a nap, she never woke up.

“I was the last one there and she was gone,” Olsen said Thursday at the Angel Tree campaign office. “I think she passed away right when she went down for a nap, so they never got a heartbeat back. We got her to the hospital and after about 10 minutes of trying to revive her, I finally told them to just stop. We held her for a long time in the hospital, and then at the funeral home they were able to get her into Calgary to do an autopsy and were able to get her back into Lethbridge the very next day, and there was nothing wrong, organically she was perfect, so she just passed away.”

Bekah said it was through the grief while holding her daughter at the funeral home, that she realized she had two options, to either become really angry and bitter about the situation, or turn it into something positive in honour of her daughter. She decided on the latter.

On Tuesday, parents, siblings, family and friends celebrated Annie’s birthday, and in her memory collected presents that would have been used by her at her young age, to be donated to the Angel Tree campaign.

Olsen said the idea is to continue to celebrate her birthday every year, and collect things for whatever age they are celebrating, to donate the items to the Angel Tree so other girls can benefit from them.

“People showed up and for about an hour and a half it was a constant flow of gifts in honour of Annie, so now because of her impact, we now get to bless so many families, and I’m very grateful, because as a grieving mom who just wants her baby, this really helps me to not spiral and cry forever,” said Olsen.

She said they are calling her daughter’s impact on others “The Annie Effect” and they would like to continue to help those in need to honour her memory.

“We call it the Annie effect, to do better, be better and love better with each other, with our families and in our community.”

She said even though Annie’s life was short, it impacted everyone around her, and the community has come together because of her and have donated many gifts for many children in her honour.

“The impact we’ve seen already has been significant, meaningful and extremely intentional and I’m just very grateful for my sweet baby, because I’m just a better person because of her, a better mom and wife and a human because of her, and I want to thank everybody that showed up and donated their time, their talents and their gifts in honour of Annie.”

Some of the donations received by Angel Tree include boxes of diapers, formula, clothes for a one year old girl, stuffed animals and toys among other things.

Michelle Gallucci, director of advancement and communications with LFS, said they are grateful for the donation, which will help families during their Angel Tree Campaign in December.

“We hope that these gifts today will help hope flourish and that the Annie Effect will take hold with other groups of people,” said Gallucci.

She said Angel Tree supports families all year, and accepts donations like the Olsens’ so it can help other families during the Winter campaign.

“It’s a heartbreaking story, and we’re trying to create some kind of hope behind that story,” said Gallucci.