ECH Foundation

Third Annual Race

2012-01-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

Get Ready, Get Set.....

There they go!

We can't offer a big enough THANK YOU to all of our participants in the 3rd annual race that was held on December 31, 2011. We had great weather and a wonderful turnout. We heard a lot of, " I couldn't think of a good enough reason NOT to run" and for us, that's good enough!

We're grateful for all of the friends who know our story and are repeat supporters as well as new runners who wanted a fun off season challenge.

It is our sincere hope that our foundation will continue to grow, and support those who genuinely need the compassionate service we will provide. Stay tuned for more updates as our little foundation progresses and grows!

The race times are posted below, be sure to check them out and brag to all about your success that encourages ours!

1- Ben Walden 19:29.01
2- Alex Bezzerides 19:46.98

3- Tina Hilding 21:11.84

4-Todd Swanstrom 22:31.35

5-Diana Hicke 22:58.68

6-Nancy Yorinks 22:59.04

7-Eric Gorman 23:16.90

8-Jamie Patten 23:56.59

9-Kathey Beerman 24:13.34

10-Stephanie Sant 25:26.70

11-Jessica Bearman 25:25.89

12- Jane Walden 26:19.60

13- Von Walden 26:31.79

14-Holly Monson 26:32.31

15-Cayson Howard 29:56.39

16-Kylee Howard 35:06.81

17-Susila Bales 35:07.32

18-Ryan Watkins 35:49.28

19-Heather Ramsey 45:46.28 (Tie)

19- Julie Bezzerides 45:46.28(Tie)

20-Robert Markley 45:52.09

21-Diana Pauls 46:58.65

22-Doug Pals 49.47.45

23-Carli Salomon 49:49.93

24-Payton Monson 50:09.67

25-Jennifer Morrison 51:21.98

26-Miles Lewis 54:26.45(Tie)

26-Jackie Lewis 54:26.45 (Tie)

27-Karen Johnson 1:05:12.71

28-Mackenzie Watkins 1:05:31.40
29-Brynn Johnson 1:05:31.93

Tristan Watkins- 1st Place Biker

A new year, a new race.. what have we been up to?

2011-11-06T18:06:00.001-08:00

It has been an exciting year for the ECH Foundation. Some life changes have taken place for two of our board members, and we couldn't be more excited. Sharilyn and Jeremy welcomed a new baby girl last November, and Mindy remarried and is now expecting a baby as well! A little boy will be joining her family in February.

Reflecting on these two events puts into light for us the very reason why we started the ECH Foundation. Life is precious, and fragile. For the joy that we experience with every birth, there are families who tragically share that same birth experience with marked grief and pain when a child is lost.

In time, we hope to ease some of that pain by being able to provide comfort, support and resources in their time of need. We hope to be able to offer them a sensitive alternative to the current options available for caskets.

The success of this endeavor is so important to us. Navigating the route to a successful not for profit foundation is complex and time consuming. Any time that we have invested is well spent though, if we can help even one family.

Every year, we host a 5K run for a few reasons. First, to honor the memory of our origins. If any of you know Sharilyn, you know first of all that she is a true- blue, dyed in the wool, hardcore runner. It's her passion in life and it is this passion that comforted her in her time of grief. What an excellent way to honor the courage and ability to endure that she has displayed. She has been a strength and shoulder to cry on for so many others, and an example for all.

Second, we firmly believe that we cannot be successful on our own. We have found SO MUCH support, enthusiasm and encouragement for this foundation from not just the Moscow community, but from a greatly extended area as well. Opening up an event like this allows everyone to come together, support, grieve if needed, and run for an excellent cause.

Finally, we cannot make this foundation thrive without financial contributions. It is our goal that the families who endure these trials never have to be burdened with the financial cost of respectfully laying their children to rest. True, there are low cost options available. They are however, little more than Styrofoam containers that do not honor the experience these families have been dealt.

Please join us this year for our 3rd annual 5k walk/ run on Saturday, December 31 at 9 am. The entry fee is $25 with a t-shirt and $15 without. You are welcome to run, walk, donate or volunteer on race day. Race will start at Highway 95 and Sweet Dr (Dominoes Parking lot). Registration starts at 9 am, race begins at 10. Entry forms can be picked up at the Animal Clinic on Highway 8 and Logan in Moscow, Idaho or you can e-mail: echfoundation@gmail.com and we will be happy to send one to you.

We are hoping that you will be willing to run with us and support us in our endeavor to ease the suffering of so many families. We feel that with the support of such good friends and a great community behind us, we can make our third run even more memorable and successful for both the runners and our foundation.

Time for the 2nd Annual 5K Walk/Run

2010-11-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

Hi all! It is time again to start preparing for the 2nd annual ECH Foundation 5K walk/run. The entry form for this year is up and available, so we encourage all to participate. The run last year was a major fund raising event, and with your participation, it will be again this year. So, come out and join us!!

"Offical Times"

2010-01-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Lance, for taking care of all the timing and the "official" stuff. Thank you Brian for measuring the course for us. Unfortuantely, the only thing we can figure out that happened was that someone moved the turn aound stake for us, and so the course was around 2.6-2.8 miles, instead of 3.1. So, everyone made REALLY good time! Next year we will ensure that it doesn't happen, but we all had a good time anyway! Here's the official results:
1. Matt M. 15:47.5
2. Dave C. 19:47.8
3. Skip B. 20:47.4
4. Susila B. 21:11.5
5. Jeffery P. 23:05.4
6. Gena P. 23:07.0
7. Marie M. 23:28.8
8. Amy K. 25:04.2
9. Cayson H. 26:36.6
10. Janet A. 27:17.8
11. Mika A. 28:21.4
12. Mary G. 28:22.6
13. Mindy S. 29:11.9
14. Andrea B. 30:11.2
15. Jennifer M. 32:55.4
16. Heather H. 39:12.1
17. Blake P. 47:44.5
18. George P. 49:34.8
19. Conie P. 49:35.7
20. Rob M. 52:31.6

Race Day!

2009-12-31T15:48:00.001-08:00

The race was a resounding suscess! We'll be posting pictures, winners and times in the near future, so keep an eye out here!

Race Day Details

2009-12-28T14:07:00.000-08:00

Firstly, we'd like to thank everyone for their encouragement and support on behalf of the ECH Foundation. Just about everyone that we have contacted to help us has been overly generous, and it has been amazing!

On race day, we will be meeting on the north side of Domino's off the corner of Sweet Ave and Main St. So that we don't clog up the Domino's parking too badly, please try and park in the Blue University lot off of Sweet Avenue and walk across the street.

The race will begin at 10:00 am, on Thursday, Dec. 31st, so please be there 30 minutes early so that we can pass out the shirts and race numbers. Late entries are still being accepted.

The trail is marked, it looks clear, and there is just an occasional icy spot, amazing for Moscow in December! The day is supposed to be clear, and the weather not too cold.

We're looking foward for our first annual Foundation run, and thanks for all who are participating! We'll see you soon!

In the beginning...

2009-12-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

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.

ECH Foundation 5K Memorial run/walk

2009-11-12T20:50:00.000-08:00

Life...is precious. We never know from one day to the next where it will take us. Life can go in one brief moment from great, to mind numbing. From "hey, I got this all worked out," to tingling all over the body with a sure knowledge that all is not well. That sinking in the gut feeling, that - oh, I can’t get enough air in feeling, that - heart racing right out of your chest feeling, that - is this really real feeling, that - if I just play back that last 3 seconds, I will hear differently this time feeling. Some of you know exactly what I’m talking about. Some of you have caught glimpses. No one is completely immune to it, unfortunately. After all, it is life.

We have all heard and read that pregnancy and childbirth is a wonderful time... and we have also read that sometimes things don’t go as planned. When you hear the news that everything is not quite normal, many things go through your head. But it seems, for many, the first is hope. Hopefully it’s not as bad as it sounds...hopefully they missed something...hopefully if they run another test, it will be okay...hopefully there’s a chance...hopefully...and sometimes hopefully works. There are many miracle babies out there. I wish every one of them could be.

But, reality is reality. When it comes crashing down, all that we have left are our memories. We have created this foundation to help with one of the final memories that we will have of seeing these babies. In the words of a co-founder...

“Several years ago, some dear friends of mine had a baby boy who died just two hours after his birth. As my friends prepared for his funeral, they discovered that because funeral homes do not invest in infant caskets, their options were to purchase a molded plastic box, or accept a Styrofoam version for free. Their financial circumstances meant that they had to lay their baby to rest in a Styrofoam box that looked like a cooler.

Because of this, my friend asked me to design and build a casket in their son’s memory to be donated and hopefully spare another family the same awful choice.

As I listened to my friend, I watched her hands grasping at the air as if they wanted to hold something that wasn’t there. To me this meant that the casket must do for the baby what his mother and father could no longer do...”

A design has been implemented, and the foundation now exists. We have developed this foundation to help reach out to those families whose only option is to bury their babies in a Styrofoam box. What we need now is your help. Help to reach out to needy families that are going through the impossible. Help for those families who have had lost an infant 0-6 months. It is next to impossible to get life insurance on a baby less than 6 months old, let alone one in utero. What choices are out there? They are limited. But we have created another.

On December 31, 2009, a significant date in the ECH Foundation, we are having a tri-state kick-off memorial run/walk, and we encourage all to participate. Whether you do it in your own home town, with your friends, with a running/walking group, with your kids, with your spouse, by yourself, whatever. We just encourage to get out and, for this time, go 5K. The link to the entry form is found here. You don’t have to run, and if that’s not for you, you do have the option to just donate. Please fill out and return to the accompanying address. The due date is December 11th to ensure a shirt, so hurry!

Stephens Gourmet Hot Cocoa has agreed to donate some of their hot chocolate to us, so if you get enough of a group together, we’ll make sure and send some your way. After all, it is in December!

Take care all, be safe, and remember, we all CAN make a difference.

We are starting soon!

2009-10-30T22:10:00.001-07:00

Stay tuned and updated!!!