The 2024 GIFTaway is CLOSED.
On September 1st, we made the announcement in our Private Online Waiting for Baby Bird Facebook Support Group and on our public Waiting for Baby Bird Facebook page that we are gifting away $10K to one couple to help them pay for fertility treatments, adoption costs, holistic options, surgery related to fertility, or pay past medical debt related to fertility, including miscarriage and stillbirth.
What started out as a crazy yet God-given dream to gift $10K to one couple in 2020 despite not having $10K to give quickly turned into an annual resource for the infertility and pregnancy loss community. See here for more on how God provided the $10K within six months of fundraising.
In 2020, the Morgan Family was chosen. This sweet couple had exhausted all of their financial resources to pursue medical fertility treatment. With their age going up and their savings going down, they were without the means to make their dream happen. But because of this GIFTaway, they are now experiencing the joys of having a toddler running around and jumping off the couch. But God’s blessings didn’t stop with the GIFTaway blessing. They supernaturally conceived and now have TWO miracle babies.
In 2021, after seeing the joy in the Morgan family, we decided to scrape up enough money to do it again, and we did with the Thomas family! This sweet couple applied in 2020 and again in 2021. After going years without the ability to conceive and the financial resources to seek help, they received the GIFTaway money and are now experiencing the life of a baby crawling and cooing down the hallway.
In October 2023, after taking a year off from the GIFTaway and focusing more on paying medical debt to those within the community who experienced a stillbirth or late-term miscarriage, we gifted away another $10K to the Rochfords. Dan and I had known the Rochfords since 2020 when they first applied for our $10K Family Building GIFTaway. Their story captivated our hearts, and as much as we wanted to gift them the money, God said no. They applied again in 2021, and once more, God gave the green light to a different couple. But in 2023, it was a resounding yes by God, and The Rochfords were chosen to receive the grand prize of $10K in our Family Building GIFTaway. Their time is now. They live more than eight hours away, but on their way to Knoxville, TN, for their first embryo transfer from embryo donation, they stopped to say hello and give thanks. It was a privilege to meet them. They are just as great on paper as in person, and I can’t wait to see them again, but with little miracles in tow because, yes, she is pregnant with TWINS!
What a joy it is to be God’s hands and feet!!
We’ve also given away smaller amounts throughout each GIFTaway, depending on how many apply, and while we hope to do that again this year, we are unsure. With only 188 applying so far, and most of the funds currently allocated from the GIFTaway application fee being used to help us send out Forget-Me-Not pregnancy loss boxes throughout the year and provide other free resources within the community, it doesn’t leave much to giveaway smaller amounts. But we aren’t ruling out the possibility yet.
Below are recipients who received smaller amounts according to their needs in the past and now have welcomed ten tiny fingers and toes to their family pictures.
If you feel a tug at your heart to take a chance and apply, do it! Every couple in these pictures didn’t think they would be chosen. They didn’t think their story was “good enough” or that they were “worthy enough.” Many applied without even having the hope of being chosen. But they were. They took a leap of faith and filled out the application; the rest is HIStory (God’s story).
The deadline to apply is October 14th at 11:59 pm CST. Don’t delay! The application is SO EASY. We don’t ask for medical reports, bank statements, references, or proof of insurance (or no insurance). We ask for the basics (name, age, etc.) and your story. Don’t worry if your story isn’t long or has grammar errors. We aren’t looking for the best written story. Trust me when I say some of the previous recipients didn’t have long stories or well written paragraphs with proper punctuation. Just write from the heart and know that what has been birthed within it, is more than enough.
For more information:
Just think, your picture could be included next year!
Sharing is caring! If you know someone going through infertility and you think they might be able to seize this opportunity, share it with them. You never know how it could change their world.
For questions not listed in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), email Elisha, founder, at waitingforbabybird@gmail.com.