Bridget's Bunnies is volunteer run by Theresa and Mathew Morrison and is driven by the desire to ensure no family endures pregnancy or infant loss alone, while giving additional purpose to our daughter's brief life. 

Inspiration is drawn from our beautiful baby girl, Bridget Bell Morrison, who was unexpectedly born still just one day shy of her due date as a result of an umbilical cord accident. We were in no way prepared for this news and relied entirely on those around us for direction and support as none of the books or classes readied us for saying goodbye.

Comfort kits are provided to parents at the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre and in the Barrie area who experience pregnancy or infant loss. They are intended to provide gentle direction to both parents and care givers along with with lots of compassion. Almost every item provided was gifted to us by family in the days following Bridget's birth. Items include a cuddle bunny to fill empty arms, hand and foot print molds and ink pad, a book on grief, sage tea to suppress milk production, a baby memorial book, letters to the parents and care givers, local resources, and many other items. We found them helpful and hope the parents who receive them from us do as well.

In addition to comfort kits, we strive to raise awareness in the community around pregnancy and infant loss to lessen the isolation felt by parents experiencing it and showcase the organizations in our community that families experiencing loss may find beneficial.

 What support are you looking for? (Awareness/volunteers/Funding) 

Primarily, we are looking to raise awareness about our organization as well as pregnancy and infant loss. Because we are still so new and our program is unique to the Barrie area, unless people have received support from us or know someone who has, they generally do not know much about Bridget's Bunnies. Awareness around pregnancy and infant loss is important because many parents did not realize loss could occur after the first trimester and this serves to compound their suffering. 

We would also benefit from funding because as the community becomes more aware of our program, demand increases as well. We strive to assist any family from our region, whether they were at RVH or not. We saw these requests grow quite a bit in 2019 and predict they will continue growing in 2020.

If chosen to be our charity of choice what will you do with the monies raised?

If chosen to be the charity of choice, we would use the monies raised to purchase items for our comfort kits for parents experiencing pregnancy or infant loss. Our full loss kits with memory makers are valued at about $260 and our early loss kits are valued at about $15. RVH alone anticipates requiring 20 full loss kits with memory makers, 20 full loss kits without memory makers, and around 375 early loss kits. Again, we anticipate seeing an increase in requests for comfort kits to be provided outside of RVH in 2020.