The story of the Donaldson’s from the founder Jennifer Donaldson.

My husband and I started the Blakelyn Foundation to help with funeral expenses and medical bills for mothers and fathers who have experienced child loss. Since losing our own daughter in 2015, I feel that it is my calling to give back and to help others who have felt and who may experience this unfortunate loss.

In September of 2015, our sweet baby girl, Blakelyn Paige, was stillborn. We delivered her at St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. We had the most amazing nurses with us on that day. One sweet nurse took pictures of us holding our sweet girl for the first time, pictures that we may not have gotten had she not been there with us. She had also experienced the loss of a baby girl. Having her there with us that day made our experience so much more bearable.

Our sweet girl was wrapped in the most beautiful, tiny crochet blanket with a tiny matching crochet hat and booties. I love to crochet and had been trying to finish one that I had gotten started for Blakelyn, but unfortunately did not get to finish. The little blanket means so much to me just knowing the someone took the time and the effort to hand make it and donate it to the hospital not knowing who the recipient would be. We were also given a sweet memory box, some cards and more photos that our amazing nurse had taken for us, and then we went home.

Ever since, I have had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to do something give back to the hospital and to other families who have to suffer through this unfortunate loss. I began making little crochet blankets like the one that Blakelyn had been wrapped in along with matching hats and booties. I wanted to keep her name alive, so I called them “Blakelyn Blankets.” Since losing our daughter, I have known several other families that have undergone the same loss. I've sat with them in the hospital, cried and prayed with and for them, shared my story and listened to theirs, and I've gotten to give each of them a Blakelyn Blanket.

I am starting nursing school in January of 2020. My ultimate goal is to be a Labor and Delivery nurse, I want to be there to experience the joy of bringing new life into the world, and to be there with the grieving mothers and fathers who have to experience the unfortunate loss of not being able to bring their little one home. Although it hurts to share my story, and it is rare that I do not shed a tear while telling it, I know that if I can make at least one person feel slightly more at ease, then it will be totally worth my sharing.

 We started the Blakelyn foundation in 2019 to aid financially to families going through similar situation that we have been through. It is hard enough losing a child but it is even worse when you don’t know if you can pay for the medical bills and funeral expenses for the child you miss so much. So we set out to help pay those bills and cover those funeral cost.

Our Mission

Our mission is to help families after the loss of a child. We strive to not only help financially but also help create a community to let them know they are not alone. We are here to be the hands and feet for the hurting.