News

Our friend Jax shared his story and mission to raise 500 Brave Gowns by Thanksgiving with AZFamily and we are so excited to see him spreading the word! He is doing absolutely amazing things by starting this campaign for the hospital that helped him. It's such a blessing to see how dedicated and excited he is to be giving back! Watching our children learn the importance of paying it forward and how rewarding it is to give to others is such a gift and reminds us often of the good in the world. 

We hope you'll check out his news story below! 

https://www.azfamily.com/video/2022/10/25/year-old-gilbert-making-superhero-themed-hospital-gowns/

The Tyler Skaggs Foundation was founded to empower young people through sports and athletic programs and help to provide the resources needed to build confidence, teamwork and leadership skills. Tyler’s wife, Carli and his mom, Debbie along with many others that loved Tyler created TSF to support individuals and teams to nurture a lasting positive impact in the lives of young people. 

Tyler was a mentor and hero to children that watched him play baseball and throughout our community. Tyler's graciousness and generosity is remembered within the children's hospital community we are excited to keep that going through the Tyler Skaggs’ Brave Gown. May the gowns we put on children in his honor help the legacy of his heart and humor shine on!

The gown designs were created to inspire others to #BringTheSpark to their lives as they feature Tyler’s favorite symbol, the “spark” and a baseball belt. 

Happy Heavenly Birthday Tyler ❤️ It’s an honor to partner with the Tyler Skaggs Foundation to gift gowns to as many hospitalized children as we can. This gown drive is such a unique opportunity to commemorate Tyler and give back in a way we know he would be proud of.

You can donate a gown by following this link https://www.bravegowns.com/products/tyler-skaggs?_pos=1&_sid=c91e4266c&_ss=r

If, by chance, you ordered masks at the beginning of the pandemic during the great USPS debacle, and you reached out to our customer service team, more than likely, you received a  response from Lauren. This is her family and this is their story. This is her “why.” She jumped in to help Brave Gowns when she knew we needed it. She had offered twice and knowing how much she had on her plate, I said, "thank you, but no thank you" for a good two weeks. When she texted the final time, we were at a breaking point with emails and I said, "fine, if you can get in, let's do this." I had been locked out of my email account for an hour. I remember thinking, "good luck!" Within five seconds she said, "Now what?" She was a Godsend. Through that, we have maintained a friendship. Towards the beginning, I said something "Pollyanna-ish" to which she replied, "Ok, Summer, maybe you're supposed to show me how that faith of yours works, because with what we've been through with Everly, I don't know what I feel."

Over the last few years, we have had the blessing to watch her children grow and really get to know their family. Jack is Everly’s big brother. He is a silly guy that loves accents, and has sacrificed so much to protect Everly through COVID. Everly is…well, perfectly Everly, exactly as she should be. She had her first open heart surgery before she was three-days-old. She will have two to three more before she is an adult, so her strong-willed spirit is a blessing.She Everly’s mom, Lauren, is Miss Do It All. When school went online due to the pandemic, within three days, she had a full classroom set up in their dining room with chalkboards, desks, play areas and more. That is Lauren. She's the "make every day special" type of mom who even celebrates half birthdays, because she understands what a gift each milestone is. They also foster failed two dogs this year, so now they have four dogs. In other words, besides protecting Everly from COVID and with her normal doctor check-ups, I’m sure Lauren is exhausted, but she keeps going and then, does even more. She advocates hard for CHD and I lost count of all the organizations she helps awhile back, but of course, today she also just spearheaded a Chicagoland Brave Gown campaign with seven other CHD families. Ironically, I’m not even to the point of this post yet…Everly’s dad, Matt. We have watched him transform from a quirky, funny guy to a dad that leaves me in awe. He is such a hard worker and, no matter what he faces, he shows up at the end of the day and plays with the kids second to none. From hide and seek, to dance parties, to movie nights and family walks, Matt is always in the midst of it. I didn’t see Matt getting a tattoo ever, but of course, if he did, that is exactly how he’d do it. He'd pick a design to make Everly feel special. I'm tempted to write: "not a design for himself," but that's not entirely true, because if you knew Matt, Everly's badge of courage, her zipper was exactly what he would have chosen time and time again.

That’s what led me to write this post. Knowing the story from behind the scenes, you would know first hand that they would never do this for notoriety or for a story. That idea wasn't even entertained in their heads. They did this for all the right reasons...their love for their family and their love for their little CHD hero Everly. Lauren & Matt, if you're reading this, this is why I believe in the good. I was always told that the thing that we are meant to be will drop us to our knees on many occasions. Maybe it's not the way we had hoped. We know Everly has more heart surgeries to come. May their "zippers" remind them of their healing, memories, and the courage of they endured together. Oh and Lauren, if you're reading this, your story is the exact reason I always choose faith. When you do things with your heart and with the right intentions, the good you put out, will alway comes back to you.

To sponsor a gown for the Chicagoland CHD Brave Gown drive please go to:

https://www.bravegowns.com/products/second-chicagoland-chd-brave-gowns-drive

To read more about their story go to:

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/crystal-lake-dad-gets-tattoo-of-daughters-open-heart-surgery-zipper-scar/2746095/

 Have Fun! We Can't Wait To See Your Designs! Thank you!

Official Design-A-Mask Rules:

Sponsor’s Rights to Entries. By entering the Contest, you grant to Sponsor a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, fully sub-licensable (through multiple tiers) and transferable license, without additional consideration to you or third parties, to:  (a) reproduce, distribute, perform, and display (publicly or otherwise), adapt, modify, edit, translate, make available to the public, make, sell, offer to sell, import, and otherwise use and exploit (and have others exercise such rights on behalf of the Sponsor, through multiple tiers) your entry in any format or media now known or hereafter developed; (b) create derivative works from and incorporate your entry into other works or into Sponsor’s or its designees’ products or services; (c) use your entry for Sponsor’s advertising and promotional purposes; and (d) use your name, entry, portrait, picture, voice, likeness, statements, and biographical information for Sponsor’s advertising and promotional purposes, whether or not in connection with your entry, in each case for the purpose of administering and promoting the Contest, any future promotions and/or Sponsor, except to the extent prohibited by applicable law. Sponsor reserves the right (but does not have the obligation) to verify at any time that all necessary rights, clearances, consents, releases and other permissions in or relating to your entry have been validly obtained, and you agree to fully cooperate with Sponsor in any such verification inquiries. Entries must be your own original work and must not contain any content that is not your own or for which you have not obtained appropriate and necessary rights (including, for example, content that contains another person’s or entity’s trademark or content that was created by or is otherwise copyrighted by another person or entity). Thank you!