One of the things that we have learned from our experience is that there are a lot of sick children in this country and there are many organizations established to help these children–a few of which we relied upon heavily while we were caring for Grace. We have experienced the incredible support of many caring people who also recognize the struggle these families face. Our mission is to provide assistance to these organizations through the development of a foundation established in Grace's memory. The sole purpose of the Sweet Pea Foundation, named after Grace (we call her our little Sweet Pea), is to provide assistance to organizations that support sick children and their families.

Our Pledge

We hope to establish the Sweet Pea Foundation as a small charitable organization in which contributors feel confident that donations are being used wisely. We encourage you to tell your family and friends about our Foundation and the goals we have established.  We see our supporters as members of our extended family, and of Grace’s family, and we want them to feel a sense of belonging to something very special.

We have established three goals for the Foundation that we would like to share with you.

Goal #1

In the spring of 2007 we decided to focus on a new fund that we are calling “Seeds of Grace.” Just as our daughter planted a seed by inspiring us to establish the Sweet Pea Foundation, we want to spread her “seeds” by providing activities in hospitals and other places that are caring for sick children. We are talking with various hospitals and organizations to determine different activities that can be sponsored by the Foundation. One of the first seeds for the Foundation will be to provide dinners to the Ronald McDonald Houses of Indiana and Chicago.

Goal #2

Our second goal is to support organizations already established in hospitals that provide a distraction for sick children (i.e. provide toys, games, and other non-medical support). Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis and Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago both have organizations established for this purpose. Our assistance to these groups will be two fold: financial contributions and donations of food, supplies and toys.

Goal #3

Our third goal is to establish a relationship with hospitals and organizations in smaller communities that are caring for sick children. We will start in South Bend, Indiana and expand to other hospitals and organizations as the Foundation grows. We will work with these hospitals to provide toys and gifts to patients in the neonatal and pediatric units. We will use a portion of contributions we receive to purchase and distribute these items to the hospitals.

Goals Accomplished

The first goal of the Foundation was to establish a fund that will perpetually support an annual contribution to the Ronald McDonald House of Indiana. This yearly contribution will allow the McDonald House to offer a room to families free of charge. The funds collected will be placed in an interest-bearing account and, in time, the interest alone will pay for this annual gift.  In 2006 we were able to establish this fund and made our first donation in October of 2007.

Our Assurance

We want to remind everyone that 100 percent of the contributions received will go toward our goals. All expenses and overhead associated with the Foundation will be covered by the Power and Letherman families.

Your trust and confidence in the Sweet Pea Foundation is of the greatest importance to us. We want to let our supporters know that your address and any other information you provide to the Foundation will remain confidential. We will not disclose any of your information to other organizations.  If at any time you wish to be removed from our mailing list, just contact us and indicate that you would like to be removed from our list. We will certainly respect your wishes.