Ari Foss Foundation
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My wife and I created the Ari Foss Foundation to help families overcome the financial stress created by losing a child through a stillbirth. The Ari Foss Foundation has two (2) primary missions:
Mission One – (immediate) to provide education and resources to help families pay for funeral/burial expenses resulting from stillbirth and infant deaths and Mission Two – (future) to provide financial assistance for basic funeral/burial expenses resulting from stillborn and infant deaths in South Carolina.
When a family experiences a stillbirth death, there are potentially three stresses 1 – physical stress of labor (or C Section), 2 – emotional stress of losing a child and 3 – financial stress of planning and paying for a funeral.
There are a lot of resources available for all three stresses, and plenty of organizations provide information about coping with physical and emotional stress. Unfortunately, no one actively talks about the financial stress.
The information is out there. There is A LOT of information about paying for funeral expenses available on the internet, and there are a few organizations who provide financial assistance for funeral expenses. The problem is the information is passive, and families must search for it.
When a family is experiencing a traumatic loss, they are not thinking about conducting research about funeral options (including payment options). With the Ari Foss Foundation, we want to get the necessary information into the hands of grieving parents when they need it rather than waiting for them to look for the information. The Ari Foss Foundation wants to bridge the information gap and bring the information to families when they need it the most.
The idea for the Ari Foss Foundation was born out of our experience of losing and planning for a funeral for our son who passed away during the birthing process (see Our Story below).
For more information, visit the Ari Foss Foundation website at http://arifossfoundation.org/ .
Why is the Ari Foss Foundation Needed?
Here are a few statistics from our website:
- When fetal death occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy, it is called stillbirth. These tragic deaths occur in about 1 in 160 pregnancies.
- Stillbirths impact more than 25,000 families in the United States each year.
- Median cost of a funeral with vault (which is typically required by cemeteries) is $8,343.
(visit our website for statistic references and more statistics)
Why We Are Raising Funds
The Ari Foss Foundation is a registered non-profit in South Carolina, but we still have a long way to go to becoming an IRS registered non-profit. We are raising funds for the following purposes:
- Application to IRS for 503(c) non-profit status (hire legal counsel)
- Creation of education material (brochures, fliers, etc.)
- Print education material for distribution
- Develop better website
- Ongoing operations to grow the Ari Foss Foundation
The Ari Foss Foundation does not currently have any employees. We will rely on volunteers and hiring vendors to complete projects as necessary. As the Ari Foss Foundation grows, we intend to hire at least one (1) employee to develop, manage and grow operations.
Our initial fundraising goal is $20,000. If we are able to raise more money, we will more quickly be able to provide financial assistance to grieving families (Mission Two).
Our Story
When we lost our son, Ari Foss Silverman, during labor, we joined the unfortunate group of 25,000 families in the United States who lose a pregnancy to stillbirth each year. The financial stress of paying for a funeral compounded the extreme emotional stress we were feeling and the physical stress my wife was enduring due to labor and surgery.
Less than 24 hours after losing our son, I was making phone calls to arrange a funeral. I learned things about funeral planning I never thought possible. The first and foremost is it is expensive to have a funeral.
My mom suggested asking family and friends to help pay for the funeral and increased medical expenses. I was not in the right state of mind to think about it. I told her she could handle it if she wanted, but I did not want to think about it or do anything for it. I was focused on grieving, supporting my wife and planning a funeral for my son.
Due to my business, my mom knew about crowdfunding. She setup a crowdfunding page to help pay for the funeral costs. Coincidentally, so did one of my wife's best friends. Through the two fundraising efforts and other family support, one of the stresses we were experiencing disappeared. We could focus on grieving and starting the emotional and physical (for my wife) healing process.
To learn more about Ari Foss story and the Ari Foss Foundation, visit our website at http://arifossfoundation.org .
Thank you for taking the time to learn about the Ari Foss Foundation. Connect with us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/arifossfoundation.
Mission One – (immediate) to provide education and resources to help families pay for funeral/burial expenses resulting from stillbirth and infant deaths and Mission Two – (future) to provide financial assistance for basic funeral/burial expenses resulting from stillborn and infant deaths in South Carolina.
When a family experiences a stillbirth death, there are potentially three stresses 1 – physical stress of labor (or C Section), 2 – emotional stress of losing a child and 3 – financial stress of planning and paying for a funeral.
There are a lot of resources available for all three stresses, and plenty of organizations provide information about coping with physical and emotional stress. Unfortunately, no one actively talks about the financial stress.
The information is out there. There is A LOT of information about paying for funeral expenses available on the internet, and there are a few organizations who provide financial assistance for funeral expenses. The problem is the information is passive, and families must search for it.
When a family is experiencing a traumatic loss, they are not thinking about conducting research about funeral options (including payment options). With the Ari Foss Foundation, we want to get the necessary information into the hands of grieving parents when they need it rather than waiting for them to look for the information. The Ari Foss Foundation wants to bridge the information gap and bring the information to families when they need it the most.
The idea for the Ari Foss Foundation was born out of our experience of losing and planning for a funeral for our son who passed away during the birthing process (see Our Story below).
For more information, visit the Ari Foss Foundation website at http://arifossfoundation.org/ .
Why is the Ari Foss Foundation Needed?
Here are a few statistics from our website:
- When fetal death occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy, it is called stillbirth. These tragic deaths occur in about 1 in 160 pregnancies.
- Stillbirths impact more than 25,000 families in the United States each year.
- Median cost of a funeral with vault (which is typically required by cemeteries) is $8,343.
(visit our website for statistic references and more statistics)
Why We Are Raising Funds
The Ari Foss Foundation is a registered non-profit in South Carolina, but we still have a long way to go to becoming an IRS registered non-profit. We are raising funds for the following purposes:
- Application to IRS for 503(c) non-profit status (hire legal counsel)
- Creation of education material (brochures, fliers, etc.)
- Print education material for distribution
- Develop better website
- Ongoing operations to grow the Ari Foss Foundation
The Ari Foss Foundation does not currently have any employees. We will rely on volunteers and hiring vendors to complete projects as necessary. As the Ari Foss Foundation grows, we intend to hire at least one (1) employee to develop, manage and grow operations.
Our initial fundraising goal is $20,000. If we are able to raise more money, we will more quickly be able to provide financial assistance to grieving families (Mission Two).
Our Story
When we lost our son, Ari Foss Silverman, during labor, we joined the unfortunate group of 25,000 families in the United States who lose a pregnancy to stillbirth each year. The financial stress of paying for a funeral compounded the extreme emotional stress we were feeling and the physical stress my wife was enduring due to labor and surgery.
Less than 24 hours after losing our son, I was making phone calls to arrange a funeral. I learned things about funeral planning I never thought possible. The first and foremost is it is expensive to have a funeral.
My mom suggested asking family and friends to help pay for the funeral and increased medical expenses. I was not in the right state of mind to think about it. I told her she could handle it if she wanted, but I did not want to think about it or do anything for it. I was focused on grieving, supporting my wife and planning a funeral for my son.
Due to my business, my mom knew about crowdfunding. She setup a crowdfunding page to help pay for the funeral costs. Coincidentally, so did one of my wife's best friends. Through the two fundraising efforts and other family support, one of the stresses we were experiencing disappeared. We could focus on grieving and starting the emotional and physical (for my wife) healing process.
To learn more about Ari Foss story and the Ari Foss Foundation, visit our website at http://arifossfoundation.org .
Thank you for taking the time to learn about the Ari Foss Foundation. Connect with us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/arifossfoundation.
Organizer
Aaron Silverman
Organizer
Charleston, SC