Janet Bailey has spent five years turning pain into power.
She founded Miracles From Matthew after the 2013 death of her 8-month-old son resulting from a series of severe heart defects.
And she has seen what started out as a simple mission -- to collect and distribute a few Christmas toys to hospitalized children and their families -- grow exponentially until it had nearly 2,000 beneficiaries this past Christmas.
In fact, she recently had to incorporate as a nonprofit to handle the volume of toys and fundraising that now extends throughout the year.
"We partner with Ronald McDonald House and other crisis intervention centers," including the Jackson House in her hometown of Hot Springs, she says.
Collection points include drop boxes in front of businesses, at central Arkansas branches of Centennial Bank and in parking lots where the organization now gathers, not just toys, but coats, blankets and personal hygiene items. Bailey and her folks provide a "a kind of a Walmart, where families can shop free of charge" and free of stress while their children are undergoing treatment at Arkansas Children's Hospital.
Bailey's second son, Matthew, was born Dec. 1, 2012, seven weeks prematurely, weighing just 3 pounds, 1 ounce and with severe and complex heart disease. He was admitted to Arkansas Children's Hospital, with doctors despairing that he would live even one more day; the cardiology team intensely searched for and turned up the only doctor treating Matthew's particular heart problems.
So two weeks later, Matthew and his mother left their family behind and, with several medical personnel, boarded a private medical transport plane and headed to Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. The next day Matthew underwent a 12-hour full open-heart reconstruction.
He returned to Arkansas Children's Hospital in January 2013 and the following month went home with his mom to Hot Springs, but it soon turned out that his heart had not been completely repaired. He had a second, supposedly successful surgery in California in May 2013, but his heart disease continued to progress and he died that July.
Because she had a "commute" longer than 45 minutes from home to the hospital, Bailey stayed at Ronald McDonald Houses in Little Rock and in California. The latter had a program that provided toys for the family members of sick kids.
The family was struggling: Bailey's husband had recently lost his job and if it hadn't been for that toy program, "we would have had a really hard time for Christmas." (Matthew had an older brother, Timothy, now 8; Bailey's youngest child, Liam, is now 4.)
When she returned to Little Rock she asked the staff at this Ronald McDonald House whether they had a similar program. They didn't. Hadn't even heard of it. "We don't do anything like that," she recalls them telling her. So she started one.
"That first year, we helped 253 people," Bailey says. "This past Christmas, we helped 1,800."
Recently she filed the paperwork to officially become a nonprofit and acquire 501(c)3 tax status.
"This was never supposed to be a nonprofit," she says. "It started out as a couple of people getting together to help a couple of families, and we've grown so quickly."
Bailey says Miracles From Matthew is in the middle of a campaign to raise $20,000 to sponsor the toy closet, a "store" at Ronald McDonald House with toys sorted by age and gender. This past Christmas, they managed to put four presents for each child, patient or family member, under the Ronald McDonald House tree.
Fundraisers on the schedule include a parking lot sale May 18-19 on the lot of Big Lots in Hot Springs and a Christmas in July benefit that will feature an auction, food and music. The 2018 Christmas Toy Drive was dedicated to the memory of Matthew Allen Ford, a recent Maumelle High graduate who died at 19 in 2016. (Information on how to donate is available at the Facebook page, facebook.com/miraclesfrommatthew, or by emailing miraclesfrommatthew@gmail.com.)
The organization has also created a "pick a family" program, letting community leaders (teachers, church leaders, counselors, etc.) elect families in need, to whom volunteers could hand-select and personally deliver presents.
And they've also recently partnered with Cutwell 4 Kids, a Hot Springs art mentorship program run by Anthony Tidwell that provides paint, brushes, canvas and art instruction for low income children, that included a Christmas get-together with Santa Claus. "It was a way to reach kids in our community who have needed a little Christmas spirit, a little boost for the holidays," Bailey says. "They were some of the most grateful kids I ever met."
High Profile on 01/13/2019