Dear Rhett Sullivan Foundation Supporters,
We made it through our second round of fall/winter holidays without our boy, Rhett. While this effort has given us something to focus on and keep Rhett’s memory very much alive, there is always that missing seat at the table, empty stocking hanging on the mantle or lack of presents around the tree that remind us of how much greater this time of year could be. Please continue to pray for those families missing their babies over the holidays. We know we’re part of a small community that feels that certain empty feeling more often during November and December, and hope you all can reach out to those you may know suffering the same and remind them you remember their child. Call the child by name. It means so much.
Thank you so much for making our 2018 fundraising drive a major success! The foundation received over 150 individual donations over the last 6 weeks! We blew right past our $25,000 goal by the end of November, and have substantially added to that through the holidays and year-end. As promised, our family has personally matched $12,000 in donations, in addition to the $12,000 we received from friends and family in 2017. Because of your generosity and willingness to support Rhett’s cause, we are able to immediately begin providing financial support to local families who experience child loss in 2019.
In addition to funding the organization in 2018, we established a significant online presence with our website and social presence with over 1,000 unique website visits, over 5,000 people reached with our first blog announcement/letter and engagement from 350+ followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We hope to keep the momentum rolling into a productive year. Please do your best to spread the word and our message on social media platforms to gain more traction there.
This year is a big one for our Foundation, so please continue to track our activities and lend support as you can. We are constantly reaching out to local funeral directors, hospital social services/chaplains and other social service care providers to identify those families who could use our support. Additionally, personal outreach is important, so if you would like to refer a family our way, please feel free to do so. Since making our kick-off announcement, we have been informed of three early child loss cases in our immediate region in November alone and hope to provide assistance to those families. Since Rhett’s passing, we have identified another 5 cases in Denton County who could have benefitted from our efforts in ’17 and ’18.
We are currently making plans for fundraising events in 2019, and will be asking for volunteers to provide much needed assistance when the time comes. More to come on that front, but until then, please help us keep expanding our outreach to the community.
Happy New Year!
Rhett’s Mom and Dad
Rhett Sullivan Foundation is an exempt organization as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
