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it was too much stress on his 3-pound, 6-ounce body. After his passing, the Kurendas squeezed a lifetime of memories into two days, getting him baptized and introducing him to family and friends. Their young niece read books to Teddy and filled him in on their lives.

“After that, I decided I can’t just sit and sulk in my sadness,” Alaina recalls. “I had to do something. So I started the Teddy Foundation.”

With enthusiastic support from Matt and mother Mary, Alaina launched the organization, which sends care packages to families in similar situations, be it a miscarriage, an ectopic pregnancy or a life-limiting diagnosis. More than 100 care packages were distributed in 2022.

Alaina offers her skills as an amateur photographer to couples whose time with their little ones is likely to be devastatingly short.

Perhaps most importantly, she also offers support.

“I make sure I take the time to read the story of everyone who submits a request and I write them a little letter,” she says. “And I just let them know, if you need to chat, here’s my phone number. Because when I was going through my pregnancy with Teddy, I wish I had that. I wish I had someone to call up and say, ‘Hey, I’m feeling really weak today, and I feel like I might need to make a drastic decision. Can you talk about it with me?’”

As of now, the foundation is a family affair, but they’re in the process of assembling a board.

Each bundle consists of homemade and donated items, including a plush teddy bear, framed artwork, handmade bracelets, an angel stone, magnets and literature. Alaina says the packages are often purchased for family members or friends experiencing loss, which she considers a beautiful way to support someone when you really don’t know how else to help.

“Some people believe they are helping by not bringing up your loss,” she says. “In reality, parents who lost a child feel as though you are forgetting their baby. Helping them carry their grief instead of hiding it away is most helpful.”

Donations are always welcome, Alaina says, as are volunteers for community events like the West Reading Fall Fest.

Almost exactly one year to the day of Teddy’s birth and passing, and all the grief associated with it, the Kurendas experienced the pinnacle of joy, welcoming Lucy to the world. During a recent interview, the baby girl appeared determined to make her presence known, at times overtaking the conversation with the dulcet sounds of gibberish.

“She’s a bright star in our story,” Alaina says. “That’s for sure.”

When Jason Hornberger got the opportunity to honor his late mother-in-law, offer much-needed assistance to a family friend and teach his children the importance of acts of kindness, he took it.

All he had to do was donate an organ.

Twice.

In 2015, Dick Henry, a fixture of the Berks County community, announced that he needed a liver transplant. The realtor and auctioneer had been diagnosed with NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis), an inflammation of the liver that resembles hepatitis caused by alcohol abuse but arises from something else.