This is a Preview Only!

This is only visible to you and cannot be accessed by others.

The Marigold Foundation

On October 6th, 2016 I experienced the worst sort of loss. I gave birth to two beautiful identical twin boys, far away from home and family, and watched them die in my arms. We put our entire lives on hold so that we could drive 8 hours to a hospital that might provide treatment for our sick boys. Shortly after arriving home, heartbroken and grieving, I opened a letter from the hospital wr delived at and saw a hospital bill for our stay. I walked out of that hospital with empty arms, unable to work, and with more financial debt.

My husband Zach and I were fortunate to have family and friend who rallied around us and wrote us check after check in order to help keep us afloat during that horrible time. So many familes are not that fortunate. The Marigold Foundation will provide two types of funding to families. We will provide funding to families that are facing a dire perinatal prognosis and need money to travel and we will help pay off medical bills from the labor and delivery of stillborn babies and those that died shortly after birth.

Infant loss is heartbreaking and so often people want to help but don’t know how. 26,000 babies are stillborn each year in the United States and 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage. Your support of the Marigold Foundation will directly help people going through the worst time of their lives by giving them the grace to grieve instead of worry about their finances. When you build our community you’re helping families like ours and remembering children like our twins for whom this is all in memory of, Theodore Nicholas and Holden Benjamin.

You Belong Among the Wildflowers

Zach’s childhood home is surrounded by a field of wildflowers. His parents built the house that they lived in, and then planted a beautiful Wisconsin prairie to surround them. Driving up their long driveway, huge purple cone flowers and prairie grasses bend and touch the car as you make your way forward, welcoming you. When Zach’s father, Tom, passed away in 2014, Zach told me that the song Wildflowers by Tom Petty made him think of his dad.

When Theodore and Holden died, the natural place to think of them was in the arms of their grandfather. Tom was a loving grandpa to William, although for too short of a time. Having fathered and raised identical twin boys himself, Zach’s younger brothers, we could vividly picture Grandpa Tom taking care of our boys and knew that if they couldn’t be with us, they were in the next best place if they were with him. When we hear that song and when we think of our boys with Tom, we picture them surrounded by the wildflowers that Tom loved so much.

Please support the Marigold Foundation by purchasing a t-shirt that was designed especially for our cause. The money that we raise from the sale of these t-shirts is going to pay for a professional website, pay for applying for non-profit status, and help us launch our big 2020 fundraiser. These t-shirts (and coffee mugs!) are also a great way of showing your support to all of the families whose children and loved ones are among the wildflowers.

Fund Leader: Helen Werner
Fund Type: Non-profit Organizations

The Marigold Foundation's Facebook Page