Since launching in 2012, Love for Lily has had one purpose, to support families in the Neonatal ICU. Through our programing we aim to teach coping skills, build community, and build teams of support easing the stresses of NICU.
Through facilitated support groups, Essentials Bags and grants, Love for Lily’s mission is to support families in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to thrive during their stay and at home.
Facilitated support groups, such as Lasting Love, our post-NICU group, teach coping skills and provide community. Essentials Bags are stuffed with items that can provide a little comfort and ease the burden of life in the NICU. Grants help insured families who spend four or more weeks in the NICU obtain therapies that support the well-being of their child(ren).
Love For Lily’s goals in all of our programming are:
To provide social, emotional, and logistical support to families with children who have been hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of area hospitals.
To provide non-medical services that aim to connect parents to other NICU families and to community resources that may reduce the incidence of postpartum mood disorders in this population of parents.
To educate and empower the families of NICU infants to take a more proactive and involved role in the care of their children while in the NICU in order to help alleviate feelings of helplessness and fear and to strengthen bonds between babies and parents.
To connect all families served with available and appropriate therapeutic and community resources as needed.
“Being able to come to group, eat some real food (hospital cafeteria food gets very old day in and day out!) and talk to other moms, to be reassured that my little girl would pull through, and would turn into a strong, healthy child, gave me the strength to be there for her, advocate for her, and make it through her NICU stay without breaking down.”
— Emily’s Mama
WHAT WE’VE ACHIEVED
- Provided 5,975 Essentials Bags to families during their NICU stay.
- Directly served 698-plus families through group meetings.
- Given more than 55 grants to families, easing their burden and providing a helping hand.
- Served and supported 1,381 families as they navigated the loss of their baby.
- Delivered more than 500 holiday packages to families living with babies in the NICU.
- Worked to build community within the unit, helping to ease the feelings of isolation that so many parents experience.
- Launched programing for families after discharge, serving all hospitals in the Denver metro area.