Trigger warning: This post discusses childhood drownings.
Here at Kyte Baby, we love encouraging families to explore the outdoors together as much as possible. Just like you, we endeavor to give our children joyful summer memories close to nature and surrounded by family and friends. At our warehouse in Texas, we feel like we’ve been baking since mid-May, but the locals can concur that August is the hottest. Even if you’re not in Texas, many families are seeking relief from the heat by gathering around a local lake or neighborhood pool. A sad reality is that without warning, these innocent water-front gatherings can quickly become a nightmare. Although every parent knows drowning can happen any time of the year, August is statistically the most dangerous month for kiddos. Like you, we do everything in our power to ensure the safety of our littles, but accidents happen to the most vigilant of parents. When they do, it means everything when we can find a community that brings hope and support, instead of shame. That’s why for Drowning Impact Awareness Month, we chose to partner with the Light for Levi Foundation, a beacon of hope that arose from one family’s sudden tragedy.
In November 2020, parents Scott and Meagan Chisholm were horrified to find their twins, Levi and Lainey, half-drowned after falling into their neighbor’s covered pool during dinner. Although Lainey fully recovered, Levi suffered a severe brain injury. Despite great odds, the Chisholm’s chose to hope for Levi’s eventual recovery. As the couple turned to their faith and the social media community, they found financial support for promising alternative treatments and therapies. They also discovered a calling to help other families in a similar crisis. Out of the desire to pay it forward, in 2021, the social media movement #Light for Levi was reborn as the Light for Levi Foundation.
Through Light for Levi, the Chisholm’s are committed to partnering with families and organizations to fund medical bills, research, and serve families of children with complex medical issues. They have also continued sharing Levi’s long road to recovery, providing both authenticity and inspiration to other families fighting for hope after a dark diagnosis. Since they’ve experienced it themselves, their hearts are not just for the obvious needs, but also for the small ones that can often crop up while unexpectedly waiting hours in the hospital. Just a year after founding Light for Levi as an official certified 501c3, they provided 100 care bags for parents at the Peyton Manning Hospital. The care-bags were equipped with snacks, drinks, money for an unplanned meal out, a tumbler, and a shirt. They also brought treats to the hospital staff.
“Unite the Light” is taken directly from Levi’s name, which means “joined together” or “united.” Everywhere Light for Levi goes, they seek to be a beacon of hope for families in dark circumstances. Last December through their 12 Days of Giving, they united with other organizations to alleviate various forms of childhood trauma, including ones that children might be born into such as poverty, adverse childhood experiences, and developmental disabilities. Among these were the Firefly and Family Children Alliance which funds gifts, necessities, and field trips for children and youth in emergency shelters, the Indiana Diaper Bank which gives diapers to families in need, as well as Noble, which provides recreational therapeutic services, summer camps, and toys to children with developmental disabilities. They were also able to give $2,500 to a local family whose oldest son, Trey, was being treated for Central Nervous System Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH).
Thanks to many partnerships and families’ generous donations they can now do even more to pay it forward. As of June 2023, families with brain-injured children can apply for a $3,500 grant and the Light for Levi Foundation will award two randomly selected families from the pool of applications per month. Kyte Baby is donating $5,000 this month to further their work on behalf of brain-injured children. If you would also like to shine your light, you can learn more and donate at their website, Light for Levi. You can also follow Levi’s hope-filled recovery on Facebook and Instagram at Light for Levi and Lainey.
