Maretta's Fan Club

The Pearl Package Project began in 2018 as a way of celebrating Maretta's first birthday. With the generous contributions of members of Maretta's Fan Club (a private fb group) we began carefully curating and assembling NICU-specific care packages that consisted of a number of items that Meg had found helpful during the early days of what eventually became a 17 week stay in the NICU.

In early 2019, with the help of Country Squared, we began fundraising efforts to support the development of the Pearl Packages into an ongoing ministry of hope and encouragement.

Like a pearl that grows from a tiny piece of sand, so has the mission of the Pearl Package Project grown over the past six years. To date we have been able to support 49 families with care packages in NICUs here and in other states. Additionally we have donated a total of 44 NICU graduate "diplomas" (car seat tag and onesie) to local NICUs.

Though our primary focus has been NICU care packages up until this point, we have also been able to provide support to fellow medically complex families through resource sharing and special need fulfillment on a case by case basis.

Maretta's complicated medical journey is not a plot we would have written for our family. But God has been faithful. He has kept His promises to not leave or forsake us. It is His strength, not our own that prompts us to continuously advocate for her while also looking to serve and love other families and the medical providers who come into our lives.

This year Maretta has spent 32 days being monitored in the Pediatric EMU at American Family Children's Hospital. Our gratitude for and  love of the doctors who have come alongside us in this process has fueled our desire to help them as they help other families like ours.

We are currently in the process of planning a new addition to the Pearl Package Project unique to Pre-Surgical EMU patients coming through AFCH.

The proceeds from each purchase made from our shop here on Country Squared go directly towards supporting the mission of the Pearl Package Project.