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.

Family, Friends and Colleagues –

We’re so excited to announce the Rhett Sullivan Foundation, an organization formed to support families experiencing unexpected early child loss, in an effort to enable them to find a way to their new normal.  Infant loss occurs in 5-6 of every 1,000 births in Texas alone.  That’s over 2,200 tragic deaths each year across our state which are completely unexpected and devastating to those families.  The impact of early child loss to our community is impossible to overcome, as these tragedies have a lasting negative impact to families in our region, both financially, and worse, emotionally.

We lost our only son, Rhett Matthew Sullivan, after spending 82 wonderful days as a family of five.  Rhett is still our pride and joy.  We always dreamed of having a boy and once he joined us, our family felt complete.  His sisters, Hudson and Emory, just adored him and treated him as their real life baby doll.  They are such great big sisters and we all still talk about the impact Rhett has had on all of us.  Once all of that was taken away from us, for no good reason at all, we were absolutely shocked and staggered.  It wasn’t until well after the memorial service and burial, that we realized there seemed to be nowhere to turn for support.  In fact, turning anywhere for support is about the last thing on your mind.

Our family is very blessed with our support system through family, friends and work.  Financially, we were able to withstand the burden of never-ending hospital bills and funeral expenses, and quickly focus on our emotional well-being.  We are eternally grateful for the several family members, friends and colleagues who raised funds or donated funds directly to assist us financially, and in the end, over $12,000 was given to help cover the unexpected expenses associated with Rhett’s death.  We have decided to apply those funds directly to this initiative, to allow for Rhett to have an impact on many others, for years to come.

With the holidays upon us, we ask everyone to consider others who may be less fortunate, and do what you can to assist the community of families who are struggling with early child loss.  This week brings #GivingTuesday, a day we’d like to kick-off our fundraising drive through year-end 2018.  You may have heard Facebook and Paypal are matching $7M in donations that day.  Our family will personally match all donations received through the end of the year, up to the $12,000 amount we received in our immediate time of loss.  Please help us meet our goal of $25,000 raised by year-end.  This amount will cover all start-up costs of the organization, and allow us to immediately begin to assist local families who experience loss in 2019.  Donations can be made on our website at the link here Make a Donation.

Going forward, we will work directly with funeral directors, funeral homes, hospital networks, social workers, grief counselors and other grief support nonprofits to identify and assist family beneficiaries, both locally and regionally.  Please feel free to reach out via our website’s “Contact Us” link with any recommendations or feedback.  As we get rolling, we would appreciate any introductions, feedback or volunteer support you are able to offer.

In addition to monetary donations, we would be very appreciative of your thoughts and prayers as we begin this new journey.  Founding this organization is part of our grief journey.  We are very encouraged about the road ahead and proud of the impact Rhett will have on this world, as he watches us from above.

Much love,

Rhett’s Mom and Dad

Rhett Sullivan Foundation is an exempt organization as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.