Local Foundation Turns Tragedy Into A Mission To Help Others

Hannah Whitten with the Whitten-Newman Foundation joined us on the Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages Porch to discuss the foundation and its meaning to her family.

Wednesday, January 10th 2024, 7:19 am

By: News 9


The Whitten-Newman Foundation is a local foundation whose founders took their tragedies and made it a mission to help others. 

Hannah Whitten joined us on the Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages Porch to share what the foundation means to her family. 

The foundation was created in memory of Whitten’s two brothers, Brandon and Dylan, who passed away.

Brandon died after a struggle with addiction, and Dylan died unexpectedly from epilepsy. 

“My dad initially created the Whitten Newman Foundation after my eldest brother died in 2002, mainly to teach people about the dangers of opioid addiction, that has greatly expanded into a lot of different projects,” Whitten said. “When my brother died in 2017, we started getting involved in epilepsy.” 

Whitten said her family felt it was important to keep the memory of her brothers alive and share their stories to spread awareness for the diseases they had. 

“It was important to have something good come from like the greatest tragedy of our lives,” Whitten said. “I found it really important to continue to talk about both of my brothers and the impact they left on this world and how much I still love them and think about them often.” 

The Whitten-Newman Foundation is releasing a documentary called “The Curse of Stigma,” which will be shown in international film festivals before its release to the public. 

“It features African women and the pain and isolation they face due to deeply embedded cultural beliefs surrounding epilepsy and epilepsy stigma,” Whitten said. 

To learn more about the foundation and its documentaries, CLICK HERE to visit its website.

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News 9 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

January 10th, 2024

December 9th, 2024

December 5th, 2024

November 29th, 2024

Top Headlines

December 20th, 2024

December 20th, 2024

December 20th, 2024

December 20th, 2024