SCARBOROUGH – When Scarborough’s Kate St. Clair’s 7-year-old son entered hospice care, her friend Pamela Castrucci knew the family’s powerless feeling all too well, and was compelled to help them preserve his memory.

Three weeks later, after many sleepless nights, Castrucci had designed a prototype of what is now called Voice Kite, a cloud-based app for mobile phones, tablets and desktop computers that allows families to combine voices, photos and other memories of loved ones to be passed down to future generations.

“There’s no good way to prepare for that,” Castrucci, a Gorham resident, said about St. Clair’s loss. “I wanted to help her to find a way to preserve his physicality to the greatest extent possible, and there was just nothing out there.” Castrucci has also lost two children due to complications associated with premature births.

Castrucci, 49, describes Voice Kite as providing users the same options of large photo sharing sites such as Facebook, but with two key differences that are Voice Kite’s signature features. The program will allow users to add “voice tags” to photos, meaning that as someone uploads a photo onto the system, they are able to record messages or memories associated with that photo, on top of standard editing and organizing features.

“We give you the ability to narrate your photos, so that future generations have the opportunity to hear directly from you,” she said. “Who you were, and why you really mattered, in your own voice.”

Second, she said, and more importantly, Voice Kite’s cloud system will offer users the ability to pass down their entire “digital library” to their family members. Castrucci said to think of it as passing down a series of photo albums, all including personal messages, on a digital format.

“People will spend the time putting together a will, to pass down their finances, so why wouldn’t you do that with your most precious memories?” she said.

About a month ago, the group received a second round of funding from the Maine Technology Institute toward development, and on Nov. 12, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to raise money for the first prototype. Web development team Big Room Studios in Portland hosted a party to launch the campaign, and will be developing the prototype.

St. Clair, who was just re-elected to her second term as a Scarborough town councilor, said this week that the two-year development process has been an emotional rollercoaster for her, but that she knows her son, Kyle, would have been excited to see Voice Kite come to fruition.

“There are days that it’s difficult for me to work on it, but I keep pushing forward because I know he was excited about it,” she said. “I want to see this happen because I want other families to be able to capture the things that my family didn’t get a chance to capture.”

Last year, Castrucci and St. Clair joined forces with Janna Smith, who assists in operations from Florida, and social media and branding specialist Kirsten Shultz Marjerison, and the team is raising money to develop the first prototype program.

Don Gooding, the executive director of the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development, called Voice Kite “a great example of how new ideas often spring from our own personal challenges.”

Gooding, who was also in attendance at the group’s Kickstarter event, said Castrucci has worked hard since 2012, taking advantage of two of the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development’s “Top Gun Prep” classes, which offer insight for potential entrepreneurs.

“It has taken lots of persistence to get this far so it’s exciting and rewarding for me to see her finally on the cusp of launching,” he said. “She’s had lots of help from lots of Maine’s support organizations along the way and we’re all cheering her on.”

Nancy Strojny, the chairwoman of the Maine chapter of SCORE, which provides business mentoring and workshops, said last week that Castrucci came to her in 2012, just days after coming up with the basic Voice Kite concept.

“Pam shared her personal story of loss, and the emotional need of capturing loved ones’ memories for her family,” she said, adding that since that time, Castrucci followed “critical first steps” such as consumer studies and analyzing other photo sites.

“Voice Kite is more than a worthy venture,” Strojny said. “It is the app that will transform photos and sound into an amazing commemoration for those we love.”

Castrucci said all four members of the Voice Kite team are bonded through personal loss, with all four of their mothers struggling with cancer at some point. Three have since died. Castrucci said Smith’s father has been paying $60 a month to keep his late wife’s cell phone, so that he doesn’t lose her recorded voice.

The team has stated that the app would charge a monthly fee of $10 for the service, but also in development are family and professional plans.

As of the Current’s deadline, Voice Kite’s Kickstarter campaign has raised roughly $9,500 of their $10,000 goal, with the campaign ending Friday, Dec. 12.

Voice Kite was also recently awarded the first-ever “Emerging Ideas” award from Gorham Savings Bank in the form of $5,000. Castrucci said the next step for the startup is applying for a business development loan from the Maine Technology Institute in February. The goal is to have a working prototype by that time.

During the Kickstarter event in November, Castrucci said supporting Voice Kite goes beyond direct donations of money. Holding up her phone, she said the team has a new Twitter hashtag – #voicekiterocks.

Voice Kite creator Pamela Castrucci, right, stands with team member Kirsten Shultz Marjerison at a Kickstarter campaign event in November. The group has almost raised $10,000 toward the development of a prototype of their app that will allow users to create a digital database of memories.