The Tears Foundation

By Stephanie Landry

In 2009, still living in New Jersey, I experienced the most devastating event of my life: the loss of my full-term unborn daughter. I was 41 weeks pregnant four days past my due date and three days before I was scheduled to be induced. There were no warning signs. I was healthy and having a typical pregnancy according to my OB team. Yet, on this April morning, everything changed. My OB told me he couldnt find her heartbeat. She was gone. I still had to be induced and go through all the emotions of traditional childbirth, except in the end, there was no crying baby to console. My husband and I felt the hollow stillness in the room. Our OB quietly stood up, said his condolences, and held back tears as he left the room. What now? was the only thing I remember my husband saying.

Through the kindness of our church family, we received funding to provide our baby girl with final arrangements. We did not have money saved up for our daughters funeral, grave site, and headstone. We barely had enough money saved up for all the diapers we thought we were about to use. Yet, there we were, facing the worst. Life has never been the same for us.

My husband and I started attending bereaved parent support groups in the hospital where our daughter was born. We met several other parents who had experienced the same grim reality of not having their baby in their home. We all wanted to help those who were not as financially fortunate as we had been.

The New Jersey chapter of The TEARS Foundation was formed as the second chapter from our national office in Puyallup, WA. We quickly found out how many families experience this life-altering event as well as how many of them needed our help.

The TEARS Foundation seeks to compassionately lift a financial burden from families who have lost a child by providing funds to assist with the cost of burial or cremation services. We believe that every childs life deserves to be honored and memorialized in accordance with the grieving parents wishes and are committed to helping bereaved parents with this experience. Every grieving parent deserves access to ongoing bereavement support, so we also offer parents comprehensive bereavement care in the form of grief support groups and peer companions.

My husband and I now live in Georgia, where we eventually met a wonderful woman who had started The Georgia Chapter of The TEARS Foundation. We instantly wanted to continue helping others while honoring our daughter. Today, my husband and I are co-leaders together, continuing our mission in helping bereaved parents.

The need is great in the state of Georgia. There are no government funds available to support bereaved families who need to make final arrangements for their baby and ongoing support to rebuild their lives. With your help, we can support these families and make a difference in Georgia.

The Georgia Chapter of The TEARS Foundation has assisted many families with funeral services, has hosted memorial gatherings remembering babies, and holds its annual Rock & Walk gathering for the community and bereaved families to walk and raise funds together in honor of their baby to help future families.

The TEARS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are 100 percent tax deductible. For more information, please visit TheTearsFoundation.org/Georgia or connect with us on Facebook at Facebook.com/GeorgiaTEARS

The Tears Foundation
c/o Stephanie Landry
3874 Stone Hearth Place
Marietta, GA 30066