How a mother is honoring her daughter’s legacy by helping the homeless

Diana Mercer Imler remembers opening the trunk of her daughter’s car and finding two stacks of blankets.

They were fleece, printed with a black, white and brown pattern, and they were covered in plastic.

She asked her daughter, Jenny Mercer, about them.

“‘Mom, it’s October — the nights get chilly here,’” she remembers her child saying. “‘They’re for the homeless people.’”

That was fall 2012, when Imler visited her daughter in Laguna Beach, Calif. A couple of months later the women returned to Hilton Head Island — where Imler lived, where Mercer grew up — so Mercer could receive treatment for health complications related to mold exposure.

Less than a year later, on Nov. 3, 2013, Mercer was struck and killed by a car in the predawn hours — a hit-and-run that remains unsolved. Her body was found on South Forest Beach Drive near Bayberry Lane. She was 34.

It’s been almost three years since Imler lost her daughter, and she wants people to remember her child — a caring woman who carried blankets in her car for the homeless.

So, for the past year, Imler has been raising money for Family Promise of Beaufort County with the goal of having the agency’s children’s play room named for her daughter.

“We’re a little over halfway there,” Family Promise Executive Director Lynda Halpern said Thursday of the $5,000 fundraising goal. She added that the money raised to date in Mercer’s name has helped homeless families get of the Bluffton shelter and into their own homes.

The play room, Halpern said, is a place where “kids can escape and just be kids” while parents attend meetings and work to find a more permanent home.

In addition to handing out blankets in Laguna Beach, Mercer volunteered at a shelter and distributed food and water to that city’s homeless. Before her death, she’d hoped to work with local charities and churches to open a shelter in Beaufort County, her mother said.

“Jenny loved life and all the beautiful things it has to offer,” Imler said. “She was adventurous and loved to help others.”

Mercer would be honored, Imler said, to have the play room named for her.

People who are interested in donating to Family Promise in her name can visit the agency’s website at www.familypromisebeaufortcounty.org or call 843-815-4211.

This story was originally published October 28, 2016 at 2:13 PM with the headline "How a mother is honoring her daughter’s legacy by helping the homeless."