Blessing Foundation Inc

A story of heartbreak, a legacy of love

Read on to learn how one couple found purpose through grief.
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July 2019

Jeri and Zach Bemis were devastated when their daughter, Allie, died during childbirth.

They’ve been raising money for the Blessing Foundation ever since, helping other parents in the process.

Jeri and Zach Bemis couldn’t wait to welcome their first child into the world.

They had the baby’s room ready and thought they’d prepared for everything – until the day little Allie Mae arrived. Nothing could prepare them for the utter devastation they were about to experience.

“I had a healthy, normal pregnancy – zero complications,” Jeri says. “When I went into labor, everything was going fine … until it wasn’t.”

A fetal-maternal hemorrhage led to an emergency c-section, and despite resuscitation efforts, Allie’s life ended almost as soon as it began.

On Feb. 17, 2013, the day that Jeri and Zach should have been celebrating the birth of their sweet baby girl, they were instead planning her funeral and enduring unimaginable grief.

“There’s not a strong enough word for the devastation you feel being wheeled out of the hospital without your baby,” Jeri says.

Blessed Beginnings staff showed 
‘such care and grace’


Starr Gold
When Allie died, the staff of Blessed Beginnings, Blessing Hospital’s maternity care unit, treated Jeri and Zach with compassion and made every effort to ease their pain, as impossible as that seemed.
“They cried with you, they mourned with you,” Jeri remembers. “They took care of you with ease.” 

They gave the couple a private room, where they could spend as much time as they wanted with Allie and let their families be with her, too. Jeri and Zach could hold her, bathe her, and get handprints and footprints. 

“When it was time to say goodbye, it was done with such care and grace from the nurses,” Jeri says. 

Before they left the hospital, the maternity staff gave the couple a small, purple memory box that held some of Allie’s keepsakes – her clothes, a ring and necklace, and her handprints and footprints. In the years to come, that tiny box – that simple gesture – offered comfort as they continued to grieve.

Allie’s legacy: Helping other grieving moms and dads

The compassion shown by the Blessed Beginnings staff motivated Jeri and Zach to honor Allie by giving back to the maternity unit - and ultimately other parents facing similar situations. At the time of her funeral, they asked that memorial contributions be given to the Blessed Beginnings Fund through the Blessing Foundation.

They didn’t stop there, though. They penned a fundraising letter asking family and friends for donations – and they’ve vowed to continue that effort every three years until Feb. 17, 2031, what would have been Allie’s 18th birthday.

“When Allie died, Zach and I were treated with so much love and support from the doctors and nurses at Blessing that I wanted to be able to pass that along to other families who may find themselves needing it,” Jeri says. 

The money raised in Allie’s name has been spent on items to help grieving parents, including memory box clothing, mold castings so they can have a keepsake of their child’s hands and feet, and infant carriers and baskets.

A second loss and a gift from big sister

On May 6, 2016, a little more than three years after Allie’s death, Jeri and Zach were back at Blessed Beginnings.
Their son was stillborn.

“It was heart-wrenching. You don’t think it’s going to happen again,” Jeri says. 

Once again, the Blessed Beginning staff showed amazing compassion. When they brought Jeri and Zach a pretty white carrier basket to put “Baby B” in, they realized that it was purchased with Allie’s donations.

“It made a very sad experience seem a little better, a little brighter,” Jeri says. “It warmed our hearts to say his big sister gave him the basket he was taken away in. This is just one example of how this money helps mothers and fathers in our community. It helped us.”

Donations to Blessed Beginnings help more than grieving parents. The fund pays for gas cards and diaper bag backpacks for parents whose babies need to be airlifted to a hospital with a neonatal intensive care unit; developmental supplies for premature babies; medications and formula; and other patient needs.




Finding purpose 
and life’s blessings

While Jeri and Zach experienced a third infant loss – an early miscarriage in 2017, their family’s story isn’t all about heartache. Their son, Bruce, and daughter, Layla, were born in 2015 and 2018, respectively. Those youngsters bring joy to their lives daily.


“Despite everything we’ve been through, I know how blessed I am,” Jeri says. “I have two children buried together and two amazing kids right next to me.”


She’s often asked about the difficulty of moving on after such heartbreaking losses.


“One time in church, the sermon was about why bad things happen to good people,” she says. “Well, there isn’t always a reason. Sometimes horrible things happen, but we can find our purpose within those horrible things. Our purpose is to help other people in similar situations.”


Jeri and Zach are doing that through their support of the Blessing Foundation and Blessed Beginnings. More than $4,400 has been raised in Allie’s memory up to July 2019, with 100 percent of the money going straight to the families in need.


“I would never wish any mother and father to have to endure what Zach and I went through. But it warms my heart to know that if Allie can make someone’s hospital stay or grieving process a little easier, then Zach and I are being the role models and parents to her that we weren’t able to be here on Earth.”