Aeron’s Foundation

Aeron’s Foundation is unique because our goal is not only to increase community awareness of infant safe sleep practices but also to support families who have also suffered from this tragedy.

1) Providing financial assistance for funeral services through an application process.

2) Providing a route to explore familial genetic testing and counseling, particularly in cases in which multiple family members have died of unknown causes, or if the Medical Examiner’s Office has determined there to be a particular cause of death that may benefit from further genetic evaluation.

3) Providing resources for surviving siblings, with age-appropriate recommendations for parents on how to explain death to a child. We are also in the process of completing a children’s book specifically targeted for surviving siblings, with ideas on how to remember and continue their relationship with a loved one who is no longer physically present.

Our board members are either people who work in the Pediatric field (general pediatricians, specialists, a member of SIDS council in California), people who have experience running and working in non-profit organizations, and close family and friends who are motivated to help spread our cause.

The founder is also involved in medical education of Pediatric residents and medical students where education of future healthcare professionals comes naturally. A few of the board members are also general pediatricians that see patients in the clinic and in the nurseries to also promote this powerful message of safe sleep. Other board members who have experience in other non-profits currently have experience in fundraising to allow us to reach out and raise money to support our various activities (providing free sleep sacks, providing financial assistance for families who have lost a child to SIDS). We also have a board member with IT experience to help us maintain an online presence and keep our information up to date.

We have been apart of regional SIDS conferences and one of our board members was recently selected to be a member of the California SIDS council. Finally we also working with the State Board dealing with SIDS to also promote our story and organization. We recently completed a video shoot to be on a state website discussing SIDS.

Finally we have partnered with our county's Dept of Public Health nurse who is in charge of connecting with the families who have suffered from SIDS to promote our programs to help offer financial assistance.

We were established in 2018 and currently in the middle of 2020, we have been able to collect a great board of directors that meet frequently to help guide the mission of Aeron's Foundation. The first year or so focused on fundraising. Now in 2020, we are in the process of obtaining sleep sacks to provide to at-risk families in Pediatric clinics and nurseries. We have also been in contact with the company HALO to promote safe sleep and provide free sleep sacks as well. We will continue to have annual fundraisers to specifically support the free sleep sack campaign.

We have also connected with the SIDS nurse in LA county and in the process of looking over our very first application for financial assistance for a family who has also suffered from SIDS. With this relationship, we hope to reach out to every family in 2020 first and then go back to families that have suffered from SIDS in 2019 to see if they would like any assistance.