Halos of the St Croix Valley

Halos of the St. Croix Valley is a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation in the State of Wisconsin that provides financial, remembrance and aftercare support FREE of charge to families throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin, who are struggling with the loss of a child from miscarriage through 20 years of age.

GOAL FOR THIS CAMPAIGN:

We have created this campaign as a starting point for what we believe will be an amazing new program that will allow families to come together organically to allow them to build connections, find support, hope and healing in one another after the loss of a child in their family.

So often we see families grieve alone, in hopes someone would understand their daily struggle to navigate life without their child or sibling. As a bereaved parent or a child who has lost their sibling, connecting with anyone and finding that safe place to open up, can be very difficult. After noticing families finding that connection and comfort at our annual memorial walk, we wanted to offer an annual weekend family camp. Parents and siblings alike will get so much from a family setting where connections are able to happen naturally through family activities such as fishing, canoeing, bonfires, make and take activities etc.

We envision the creation of a committee formed of volunteer bereaved parents who input their ideas through brainstorming sessions based on a survey they compile and send to the hundreds of families we have supported. This camp would take place at a local already established physical camp that we would rent for the weekend. The committee would work with us to build family activities/programming, schedules, seek out the camp, pricing, people involved to support this idea to happen annually with a goal of a weekend in 2024.

The funds raised will go towards creating and implementing Halos Annual Family Camp into the programming here at Halos of the St. Croix Valley.

Quick overview of our services:

Families are offered many immediate support services as well as assistance to help guide them through the many time sensative decisions they are facing. We are here to help provide Remembrance Support; memorial photography, hand a foot molds (0-6 years of age), burial gowns for infants, personalized memorial cards and an enlarged framed photo of their child to be placed at the service near their casket or urn. We are also able to advocate and direct families to a funeral home in their area, whom we partner with, to help cover most if not all costs for them. We are able to provide immediate Financial Support; casket, urn, burial fees, cremation costs, funeral home fees, casket spray/urn arrangement from the parents for their child's service.

Through our Early Loss project, we offer miscarriage kits for women who have been informed they are miscarrying, to allow them to have their baby at home without the worry and place them in a vessel for holding and photos even. We offer an option for group burial or cremation for even the tiniest Angels. We also provide Early Loss Comfort Packages that have tangible items to support and validate their loss. 

We also are working on designing a new Comfort Package specifically designed for families faced with a sudden loss at the ER, so they will be given items to create and capture tangible memories of their child before leaving. They will also contain items and resources to help support parents with the next steps to navigating their loss and what they are facing.

As part of our Aftercare Support Services, we provide families with grief support through our grief support companion program as well as monthly grief talks, and a 12 month subscription to Grief Coach which offers personalized text messages . We also offer families virtual support sessions with a licensed therapist, assist with their stay at Faith's Lodge or Whitetail Lodge, and offer a 20% headstone discount. We also help honor their child by sending a card and posting on our Facebook page, with a parent's permission.  We have private Facebook groups for not only parents, but grandparents and siblings so they are able to feel supported. We host Parent Meet-Ups that allow parents to create something special in memory of their child and also meet other parents in an organic manner, so they may share their child and their journey of loss as they feel comfortable.

We are a small operational team of two that works daily to run Halos, with the assistance of many many wonderful volunteer teams that give so much of their time to help us provide this support to so many families.

We are funded solely on support from our community through donations. We have helped hundreds of families since 2011, and will continue to carry them in our hearts forever. We are a family and we are truly grateful to be able to be here for each and every parent that turns to us.