A beloved tradition for growing families, baby showers are celebrations to welcome new life. Yet when one out of eight Austin babies arrive too soon, families’ dreams are replaced with painful realities: life in the hospital, continual anxiety, debilitating fears of loss and death, and the stress of life-or-death medical decisions. That’s why Austin-born nonprofit Hand to Hold is leading the way to help families get the support and best care when their fragile babies are born too soon.
Hand to Hold welcomes Good Morning America Chief Meteorologist and bestselling author Ginger Zee as she headlines its fifth annual Baby Shower Luncheon – Seasons of Life: Gathering Strength from the Storm on Friday, November 2, 2018, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the JW Marriott in downtown Austin. This annual event raises funds to provide support and programs for families in Central Texas and in communities across Texas. Hand to Hold’s resources and programs for families provide peer support, psychological & emotional support, whole family care and NICU & beyond programs.
Guest speaker GINGER ZEE is an Emmy Award-winning chief meteorologist at ABC News and the face of our nation’s weather headlines on Good Morning America and across all ABC News broadcasts and digital platforms. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of Natural Disaster: I Cover Them; I Am One. Since joining ABC News, Zee has covered almost every major weather event and dozens of historic storms. A mother of two, Zee lives in New York City with her husband. Zee will inspire guests with her message of resilience and self-care, leaving attendees feeling renewed, empowered, and intensely moved by her raw, poignant chronicle of life as a Natural Disaster.
“When babies need intensive care and an extended hospital stay, we are right there with parents and families to make sure their emotional needs are met, too,” says Kelli Kelley, co-founder and executive director of Hand to Hold. “When hospital care centers on the whole family, their babies also do better. We help parents cope with in-person support, podcasts and online information so that they have hope, courage and wisdom to parent their medically fragile child.”
Baby Shower Luncheon guests represent many families who have experienced life with a baby in neonatal intensive care and also, infant loss. With luxury prizes from jewelry and spa treatments to fine dining, Hand to Hold’s fanciful Baby Shower games will delight and surprise guests – some of whom didn’t have their own baby showers due to premature birth or loss — as they gather to raise support NICU families and also honor their own birth and parenting experiences.
Seasons of Life: Gathering Strength from the Storm is hosted by neonatal ICU parent graduates Heather Nichols and Beth Cohen, Co-Chairs, with Honorary Chair Camila Alves McConaughey; Hand to Hold Founder and Executive Director Kelli Kelley; and a committee of 25 Central Texas volunteers.
Tickets for the Fifth Annual Baby Shower are $175 a person and available at handtohold.org/babyshower.
Guests at the 2017 Baby Shower Luncheon at the JW Marriott in Austin