Harboring Hearts

Meet one of our 2024 TCS NYC Marathon runners!

Beth is currently a season talent acquisition professional at MassMutual. When she isn’t scouting new talent, she loves to attend workout classes, explore new running routines, indulge in a new cuisine, or travel with her family! Beth shares her home in Boston with her husband, Alex, and their energetic labradoodle, Bo.

Read her inspiring "why" behind running for Team Harboring Hearts this November:

"I run for hearts of Harboring Hearts because I want to make a tangible difference in the lives of those going through cardiac surgery and transplants, so they don't have to worry about housing, transportation, or food during their health crisis."

Read more in the image below. Thank you, Beth, for running for Team Harboring Hearts and giving hope to hearts everywhere!

Meet one of our 2024 TCS NYC Marathon runners!

Isabella is originally from Connecticut and in May of 2023 she graduated from Boston College with a BSN! Growing up with a family member who had a chronic illness, she always knew being a nurse was what she was meant to do. She moved to NYC where she now works on a pediatric cardiology-neurology floor at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital.

Read her inspiring "why" behind running for Team Harboring Hearts this November:

"I run for hearts of Harboring Hearts because I have witnessed first hand the challenges that transplant patients and their families face in my work as a pediatric cardiac nurse at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital.

My dad is also a two time kidney donor recipient who has battled chronic illness and the associated complications of being an organ transplant recipient for the entirety of my life. I know that the work Harboring Hearts does aligns with my goal as a nurse to take the holistic approach by helping patients and their families maintain a sense of physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. The resources provided by Harboring Hearts make a world of difference in a families' battle against complex cardiac conditions!"

Thank you, Isabella, for running for giving hope to hearts everywhere!

Support our TCS NYC Marathon Team: https://fundraisers.hakuapp.com/teams/harboring-hearts-3?partner=18a4976d9e7566740c98

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Seeking sponsors! Our 2024 Golf Outing & Cocktail Reception is only 7 weeks away!

Join us at Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, NY and support cardiac surgery and transplant families by becoming an official event sponsor!

Questions or have interest in becoming a sponsor? Email [email protected]!

Check out our other sponsors via our website in our LinkTree!

Join us in giving hope to hearts! Our 4th Annual Golf Outing is on September 24th at Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton. We're seeking support to make this event a huge success. If you know companies offering in-kind donations for golfing equipment, unique auction experiences, or sponsorship, please contact us at [email protected]!

Let's partner together to honor cardiac surgery and transplant patients and their families. Together, we can make a difference.

Since 2009, Harboring Hearts has helped over 2,000 patients and families with emergency food, transportation, housing, and emotional support programs.

Our community is stronger when we hear from the families and patients we’ve helped over the years. Lives are changed in the telling of your stories, from our patient population to our supporters.

Help us give hope to more hearts by sharing your story with us today! Reach out via DM or to Nicole at [email protected] to share your story today!

Deloitte Impact Day 2024 was a huge success! 30 volunteers constructed 60 Care Packages, wrote out cards, and made crafts (bookmarks and iSpy bottles) for our patient community. We provided 60 Care Packages for 3 of our hospital partners - Mount Sinai Hospital, NYP-Cornell, and Children's Hospital at Montefiore. 20 are going to pediatric kidney transplant patients, 20 are going to liver transplant patients, and the rest are going to heart transplant patients!

Through these care package events, we hope to provide a little emotional support to our patients, and their families, and engage with our volunteers who made such a profound impact. We let them know that we are rooting for them and how much they inspire us.

Thank you Deloitte, for giving hope to hearts everywhere!

We love partnering with companies to create Care Packages that bring hope to patients and families in the hospital. Your company can give hope to heart, liver, and pediatric kidney patients and their families during uncertain times. It lets them know that we're rooting for them and that we're here to help.

If your company or a company you know would like to partner with Harboring Hearts via a Care Package Event, please email our Program Manager at [email protected]!

Our 4th Annual Golf Outing is 3 months away! This fundraising event raises a majority of the funds for our patient community and their families. If you would like to support us through this event, direct message us or visit our website to find out about sponsorships!

If you would like to provide an in-kind donation, don't hesitate to reach out to [email protected] and [email protected]!

We honor Teddy van Beuren's memory today, as he will always remain in our hearts. Harboring Hearts launched as an organization in 2009, and that is when Teddy joined us as we worked hard to provide financial and emotional support to heart surgery patients and their families. He died three years ago today, and we will continue to live out our mission and remember him as someone who wanted to help as many people as he could in his lifetime.

We also honor the transplant journey of Jessica Melore, our former board member and founding HH member, who passed away five years ago. Jessica was referred to by many as "Wonder Woman" because of her resilient spirit. She was an inspiration to all lucky enough to cross her path with her can-do attitude to never give up and keep fighting.

Meet another one of our 2024 TCS NYC Marathon runners who will run for on November 3rd! Allison currently lives in Boston, MA where she works as a Sustainability Manager for the Harvest Table Culinary Group. She is extremely excited about running her first full marathon. She enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time with her loved ones!

Allison is inspired to run 26.2 miles in support of heart families...

"When my family was going through the hardest time of our lives while my father was in the CCU, we were incredibly fortunate to have a close knit community to care for and help us however they could from not only our hometown, but all over the country. All patients and families deserve that level of support without worrying about their basic needs being met. Although we lost him last year, he and my mother instilled a commitment to service to others in my sisters and me throughout our childhoods. He touched so many lives and I am so honored to be running for this cause in his memory."

"I channel the strength and perseverance of my father during my training. He completed his first half marathon with me just 13 months after undergoing a valve replacement and two subsequent brain surgeries to correct a subdural hematoma. It was a challenging recovery for him, but he crossed the finish line, proving how far determination and an optimistic attitude can get you. Since losing him in August 2023 following a sudden cardiac arrest, I have turned to running as a way to process his loss and remember him."

Thank you, Allison, for running for Harboring Hearts in honor of your father. You're giving hope to hearts everywhere!

Support our NYC marathon team: https://fundraisers.hakuapp.com/teams/harboring-hearts-3?partner=18a4976d9e7566740c98

Organ donation knows no age, no race, or gender. Join the movement and register as an organ donor to become a real-life hero: https://registerme.org/

Father’s Day was just two days ago, but our mission works hard 365 days a year to provide critical resources for cardiac surgery and transplant patients — food, housing, and transportation — when they need it most.

Today is Father's Day! It marks a special day for Dads everywhere and the end to our Harboring Hearts Family Campaign. The support and love Dads and Father figures provide is incredible and heartwarming.

Make a donation to our Family Campaign in honor of the Dad in your life!

Give hope to a family today: https://form-renderer-app.donorperfect.io/give/harboring-hearts/harboring-hearts-family-campaign

What does family mean to you?

Here at Harboring Hearts, we support our patients, caregivers, and families, as if they were our own. The helping hand that families provide is unmatched and we always need it to heal.

By donating to our Family Campaign, you can give a transplant patient and their loved ones the helping hand they need to get through challenging times.

Give in honor of the family that helps you: https://www.harboringhearts.org

We are grateful for the partnership we have with the LiveOnNY Foundation and Donate8. Through their support over the last 7 years, we have helped over 900 heart transplant, liver transplant, and pediatric kidney transplant patients, and provided over $1,000,000 in housing, food, and transportation assistance to patients and their families.

Thank you, LiveOnNY Foundation and Donate8, for giving hope to hearts everywhere!

Welcome back to Payton’s story!

After her first life saving heart transplant, Payton was able to go back home and be with her family. However, after getting a normal biopsy check up, the doctors found out that she needed to get a 2nd heart transplant soon because her arteries were narrowing and they could cause her to have a heart attack.

Worried about Payton, her mom and Meema brought her back to the hospital until she could get her next transplant. However, before she was able to receive it, on February 13th, 2021, she had an 8 minute heart attack and then she had another one for 90 minutes on February 27th, 2021. After the later one, she suffered kidney failure and had to be on dialysis for 4 months , 24/7. And she ended up going through 4 strokes. Her mom and Meema did whatever they could to lift her spirits and help her fight.

This put her back on ECMO for 3 weeks and, scared for her health, her family agreed to put an artificial heart in until she could get a new one. Finally, on May 16th, 2021, she received her 2nd heart at 7 years old and her kidneys started functioning properly again!

After 10 months, Payton was able to walk out of the hospital and come home. And thanks to her dance teacher, she is walking and dancing now with little residual effects from her time in the hospital.

Thanks to you, you are helping families and patients like Payton who need help financially or emotionally in order to help them focus on getting better.

Meet one of our 2024 TCS NYC Marathon Runners, Anna Park!

At 4 years old, her family moved to the U.S. from Kiev. She’s a UConn graduate and is currently working for the Glastonbury Parks and Recreation Department! She is also a coach of the NoBoundaries Couch to 5K Running Program in Connecticut.

Anna is proud to share:

- I run for hearts of Harboring Hearts because wow, what an amazing charity! The funds I raise will make a meaningful difference in the lives of individuals and families affected by heart-related illnesses, providing them with much-needed support and resources during challenging times.

- I am inspired to gear up to run 26.2 miles on November 3rd for several reasons. First, I knew I wanted to run at least one more marathon before I turned 50 (which happens in February, 2025). What better way to meet that goal than running NYC for Harboring Hearts! I am also inspired by my fantastic running community in West Hartford, CT. I have the best running friends (my running besties) and they inspire me every day to push beyond my limits!

Thank you, Anna, for running on behalf of Harboring Hearts and giving hope to hearts everywhere!

Support her efforts: https://fundraisers.hakuapp.com/teams/harboring-hearts-3?partner=18a4976d9e7566740c98

Thank you, Stew Leonard's East Meadow, for featuring Harboring Hearts via your Wishing Well! Nearly $500 in change was raised in support of our patients and their families.

Know of a local business or company who wants to give hope to hearts? Please connect us by emailing [email protected] or accessing our website. https://www.harboringhearts.org/corporate-partnership

This is Payton! She is a heart warrior who has undergone two heart transplants that have saved her life.

Right when she was born on August 9th, 2013, Payton’s doctors noticed she had a problem with her heart: she had pulmonary atresia, meaning her pulmonary valve wasn’t formed properly, causing blood to flood back into her heart. She would need open heart surgery to correct it, so she was sent to Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital. Her mom and her Meema were devastated but they traveled back and forth to and from Manhattan to visit her every weekend after they would finish work and wouldn’t leave her side until late Sunday night.

At 3 days old, Payton had to get a Blalock-Taussig shunt put in to increase her pulmonary blood flow, but it was a complicated surgery that ended up showing that she would need a heart transplant.

On December 15th, Payton’s Mom and Meema got the call that there was a heart available for her! Ecstatic, they asked if the doctors could wait to perform the surgery until they got there, as they rushed back to Manhattan. On December 16th, 2013, Payton received her first heart!!

After the surgery, she went to physical therapy while her parents stayed at the Ronald McDonald House since they didn’t live close to the hospital.

On January 24th, 2014, Payton was finally able to come home and they celebrated Christmas a month late as a family. Her mom and Meema were so excited that she was able to come home and celebrate her new heart!

Come back next week to learn more about Payton’s story and see how she worked through her second heart transplant at 7 years old.

You're Invited! September 24th marks Harboring Hearts’ annual Golf Outing & Cocktail Reception at the beautiful Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, NY. Funds raised will provide emergency support for cardiac surgery and organ transplant families across New York.

Email [email protected] to get involved and to learn more about sponsorship!

Harboring Hearts is celebrating family everyday, and especially as we lead up to Father's Day! Family is extremely important in the healing process. To help a family today with necessities, and consider honoring a family or father in need, donate at the link in our bio. Your gift will give hope to hearts that could really use it.

Although these are just some of our partners, we would love to shout out all of those who help our cause. We are extremely grateful to have companies like Deloitte, Capital One, Chomps, Donate Eight, LiveOnNY, and many others supporting our patients and their families.

By hosting CarePackage events, donating food, or donating in general, they have given hope to the hearts of so many families.

A special thank you to all our partners for supporting us and our patients.

May is High Blood Pressure Awareness Month! Harboring Hearts wants to encourage you to consume heart healthy foods and to check your blood pressure. Making sure it is around 120/80 is incredibly important when it comes to maintaining your heart health. Keeping your heart happy will keep you and your loved ones happy.

Check with your doctor to see if you have high blood pressure and what you can do to maintain a healthy BP!

Let's welcome our new summer intern, Emily Brennan! She has joined the Harboring Hearts team for the summer of 2024 as a Communications Intern. She is a current student at Fairfield University majoring in Public Relations with minors in Marketing and English/Professional Writing.

Our work with cardiac transplant patients truly resonates with Emily since in April of 2023, Emily’s father received a heart transplant after almost three months of waiting in the Intensive Care Unit on life-saving machines. She saw firsthand the struggles that families go through emotionally and financially. Emily is dedicated to working to ease some of the stress for families and patients.

Emily enjoys spending time with friends, working out, and taking Zumba classes. Her favorite things to cook are homemade garlic bread and tacos!

We are ecstatic to have her as a part of the Harboring Hearts team!

Last week we were honored to be able to co-host an in person event at Morgan Stanley's Children's Hospital! A big thank you to our volunteers who helped organize and assist us at this event!

Thank you to Kendra Scott as well for providing our caregivers with beautiful necklaces to show how much we appreciate them and all they do.

Celebrate a special caregiver in your life but showering them with love and/or making a donation in their honor!

This week we continue to honor mothers and all of the contributions they make to the world, our patients, and their families.

You are seen and loved more than you can know and we are always grateful for you. You inspire us everyday through the warmth and love you share to your kids and to others.

Make a donation today in honor of your mom and everything she does!

June 13th, 2024 marks the Junior Board's with Wine Night! Join the Junior Board for a night of food, drinks, and mingling while benefiting cardiac surgery and transplant patients and their families!

Scan the QR code to buy your ticket now! For more information, contact Matt or Jackie at [email protected] and [email protected]!

Thanks to you, we are giving hope to hearts everywhere!

Happy Nurses Week to all of the incredible nurses out there! We want to especially thank the nurses at our 9 hospital partners for taking care of our cardiac surgery and transplant patients and their families.

We are so grateful for everything you do on a daily basis. You give hope to hearts in more ways than one!

Make a donation in honor of a special nurse in your life at the link in our bio!

We share our heartfelt thanks to our Junior Board for an amazing "Pins for Patients" fundraiser! Their dedication made the inaugural bowling event a resounding success with $4,500+ raised in support of cardiac surgery and organ transplant families!

Motivated by this inspiring group? Junior Board applications open this summer!

Want to join in their next event? Subscribe to our newsletter via the footer in our website.

Together, we're giving hope to hearts everywhere!

Happy Volunteer Appreciation Week from Harboring Hearts! We are grateful for you! Huge shoutout to all of the volunteers we've had over the years from joining us at our Heart Parties to our junior board members - we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all that you give.

If you or your company would like to give back, please consider sponsoring a Care Package event with us! Give hope to transplant patients and their families everywhere!