We started out as a group of friends with different backgrounds and experiences. One of the friends is, among other things that she fills her resume with, a furniture designer. She has been my friend for a while, though not during the time that we lost our little boy. I had told her at one time how funeral homes do not invest in infant caskets, and that the only ones that were available were molded Styrofoam, or a molded plastic pink or blue marbled thing, both of which were typical of a shoe-box design. The Styrofoam one was free, and the molded marbled one was $100. It is impossible to get life insurance for an infant less than 6 months old, so therefore everything comes out of pocket. The funeral home that we went through did do the small service free of charge, but expenses also included the burial plot, renting of chairs at the cemetery, a headstone...things like that.
So, my friend knew of our baby, and how the entire process was a little distressing. Even though it had been a while since we lost our baby, she came to me and asked if she could design an infant casket, make it, and donate it to our local funeral home in our sons name. I thought it was a fantastic idea. So, she did. It took her the better part of 2 months to come up with a design that would "do for the baby what the parents could not".
She came up with this beautiful casket that was just amazing. She was talking about it to another friend, who just happened to be a professor in the business college on the U of I campus. He really thought she had something there, and so that's where the discussions between all of us began. How could we take such an agonizing experience and turn it into something good?
Subsequently, the ECH Foundation was established. It is a non-profit foundation that, through us, hopes to ease the suffering of as many parents as we can. Our plan is, through different types of funding, establish a way for bereaving parents, family, or friends to contact us through our website and apply for a casket that we can then send to them. The casket can also be purchased through us, and any profit is then used directly in the creation of more caskets.
Unfortunately, I cannot put a picture of the casket here, nor can I describe the unique components in it until our patent is finished. Just trust me when I say that it is absolutely amazing, unique, and there is nothing like it out there. We are really excited to get started and to make a difference.
Thank you to all of you who have donated to the foundation so far. ECH Foundation is set up through US Bank, and anyone who would like to make a donation directly to us can also go into any US Bank and tell them that you would like to donate to ECH Foundation in Moscow, ID. Just make sure and let us know who you are so we can acknowledge you!
Thanks again!
Mother of E.C.H.
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