Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Miri Morgan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Miri thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Soon after my husband and I married, we discovered we were expecting our first baby. Unfortunately, we lost that baby two weeks later. We then went through 2.5 years of infertility and finally found out we were expecting again without any medical intervention in January 2016. We thought our struggles were over, but at our anatomy scan, we were told our baby, a little boy we named Judah, was missing both of his kidneys and wouldn’t survive. We refused to accept that answer and eventually found a clinical study to take us on. He was born after 9 weeks of prenatal intervention and became the first baby boy to survive without kidneys. We spent the next 6 months with him in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and he was eventually moved to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) when he required a form of dialysis the NICU nurses were unfamiliar with. Unfortunately, when he was 6 months and 1 day old, medical mistakes resulted in a stroke, and we had to decide to take him off of life support about 48 hours later.

We were devastated but knew we wanted his life to mean more. He had already inspired hope in a lot of families facing the same or a similar prenatal diagnosis. Still, we wanted to help make life more bearable for families in the NICU who are often overlooked.

When Judah’s first birthday approached, I devised the idea of creating care packages for families with babies in the NICU. We filled them with snacks, toiletries, comfort items, hair ties, blankets, and hats for the babies—just little things to make life more bearable or to brighten up their space. That first year, we delivered 58 care packages with donations from family and friends. From 2018-2019, we dropped off 135 more care packages in his honor.

When the pandemic hit, the NICU stopped accepting outside items. It wasn’t until 2022 that we could start up again, starting with a drop off of 100 handmade holiday-themed items for parents to give their babies a holiday gift.

At the same time, the church we attended launched a program to fund new nonprofits and ministries. I decided to apply, and after a several-month process, they chose to give us a grant to start up Project Judah Bear so we could continue to support NICU families. Now, we do it as an official 501c3 all year long!

Miri, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m just a mom who doesn’t want others to feel alone. Throughout my motherhood journey, I’ve found a lot of loneliness in hard journeys I didn’t expect to have to take. I’ve been parenting after loss for 7 years now, as well as handling food allergies and special needs for my living kids. There is a lot of joy in our everyday lives, but also not many who truly understand and support us along the way. There are a lot of gaps in care for families like mine, and with Project Judah Bear, we found the opportunity to honor our son and fulfill the needs of NICU families.

Project Judah Bear ultimately aims to fill gaps. When you have a baby in the NICU, you often don’t know what you need, and if you’re coming at it from the outside, it can be challenging to know how to help someone walking through it. Our care packages were created with that in mind. They contain toiletries, chapstick, hair ties, comfort items, snacks, and a handmade gift for baby (all of our items are handmade!). If a caregiver or parents can’t leave the hospital, they will now have these already by their bedside so they can brush their teeth and shower if the hospital has those facilities. We deliver them locally as well as ship them out all across the United States upon request.

My husband and I had an experience like this, and it was the main inspiration behind the care packages. When Judah was four months old, he got incredibly sick. I remember we had gone home for the night, and I felt something was wrong. We called the hospital, and they confirmed that Judah needed more breathing support. We called back a little later, and they said he needed even more. We hurried back to the hospital around midnight and ended up not leaving for the next five days. Thankfully, Texas Children’s has a Ronald McDonald House attached to its NICU, and we have a bed to sleep in each night. But we didn’t have changes of clothes, toiletries, toothbrushes, or any basic necessities. We checked the hospital gift shop, and they had a pack of them, but they were pretty expensive. My husband ended up making the 45-minute drive back to our house to pick some things up for us with our baby in critical condition. The idea behind the care packages is that parents won’t have to do this and can stay with their babies. Things can change in a moment, and I am just so glad those few hours my husband was gone were relatively uneventful. Other parents may not be so lucky.

We work closely with Texas Children’s to provide the things they need for the babies and their families. For example, we have been providing them with handmade mittens. These are important for babies who are on breathing support. Babies naturally want to grab and explore, and they will grab at their breathing tubes or other supports to keep them from pulling them off. The mittens keep them from getting a grip on them, and then they can free their arms. This helps them with their development and is less stressful for everyone. We also regularly provide them with care packages for parents who need them.

We also were able to start doing in-person events last year in the NICU. During these, we provide them with coffee, tea, and snacks as well as a craft and a gift they can take to their baby. We also provide a listening ear and relief from the stress of the NICU by creating a laid-back, no-stress environment where they can decompress and take their mind off of everything, even if it’s only for a little while.

We plan to continue hosting more events this year and expand into other NICUs. We are still learning and growing and have so many other things we would like to do in the future, like a bereavement program, support groups, and even a Bible study for those who are finding it hard to connect with a local church or want someplace where they can feel safe and understood.

Regarding volunteers, we are always looking for crafty folks who would like to help us create handmade baby items! We even have a fiber arts and sewing guideline we send out so best practices can be followed to keep the babies safe and comfy. We also plan on starting a volunteer prayer team to pray for requests submitted by those going through the NICU.

We have been able to impact close to 500 families so far and are excited and eager to keep going! All parenting take a village and we would love if you would join our little village supporting families walking through the NICU!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My whole life, I was told I needed to do something that would make me money. My options, my mom said, were to go into the military or go to college for something practical. I considered the military for a while but ultimately decided, after going on a mission trip to Honduras and hearing about how medical volunteers were always needed, to become a nurse and a medical missionary.

I worked towards this goal for a while. My plans changed when I got married and moved to Texas. Ironically, I decided instead to become a NICU nurse and then get my master’s to become a nurse midwife. I was halfway through nursing school when complications with my pregnancy with Judah made me drop out. Every plan fell apart at that moment, but I knew caring for my baby was more important.

After Judah passed away, I found myself with an incomplete college degree and no clue what I would do with my life. So, I opened an Etsy shop. It closed after I had some health issues, but a few years later, I opened another, sharing my art with the world and focusing on art for NICU and loss mamas.

The experience of running my own shop then made me feel confident enough when the opportunity to start the nonprofit arose. My career is far from what I expected, but it’s better than I ever thought it would be. I get to stay home with my children, involve them in my work honoring their big brother, and teach them how important it is to care for others.

Life often presents unexpected twists and turns. I’ve learned to embrace them and ride the waves rather than try to fight them. It turns out much better that way.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

That I can do everything myself.

I grew up below the poverty line and under a lot of pressure to be responsible, and I grew up way before I should’ve been made to. Because of that, I often push forward, valuing independence and not asking for help more than anything else.

When I started Project Judah Bear, I knew I needed at least two other board members to fulfill the requirements for the state of Texas. I thought I wouldn’t need them to do anything and that they could be names on paper, and I would fill them in at board meetings occasionally.

I learned quickly that I couldn’t do this alone and that their input and skills are invaluable! I’m creative and do well with coming up with ideas, but they have the know-how and experience to make them a reality. Allyson, our treasurer, is a talented photographer who has run her own business for years. She’s also finishing her graphic design degree, and we need a lot of graphic design done. Lauren is our secretary, has actually worked in the nonprofit sector for years, and knows a lot about the ins and outs of the industry.

While I still don’t do the best job of reaching out for help, I’m getting better and better at it as Project Judah Bear grows. I will forever be grateful that they stepped out in faith and joined me in creating this nonprofit. I truly couldn’t do it without them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.projectjudahbear.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/projectjudahbear/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561612005201
• Other: Care Package Request forms
  For caregivers/family: https://forms.gle/yZTKj9kF9qRTrjYh8
  To gift a care package (donation required): https://forms.gle/iqYua3iZT1KeVReZ6

Image Credits

All images and photography are my own