The Forrest Spence Fund Bereavement Cart provides comfort, respite, and relaxation items for families whose children are potentially facing the end of life. The hospital’s Spiritual Care department stores the cart and brings it to the bedside of children in critical-care units facing an uncertain outcome or battling a terminal illness or life-threatening injury. Families are encouraged to listen to soothing music, rejuvenate their energy with snacks and refreshments, and seek comfort through meditative exercises, aromatherapy, and memory-making. 

The Bereavement Cart is at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital and Children's Hospital at Erlanger. 

Items in the Cart

If your group would like to support the Forrest Spence Fund bereavement cart, please consider donating items from this list of our most frequently needed resources:

• Fuzzy socks for men and women

• Blankets

• Coffee and tea pods

• Travel coffee cups

• Adult coloring books

• Colored pencils

• Hand-knitted prayer shawls

• 8 oz. water bottles

• Individual tissue packs

• Snacks: granola bars, trail mix, pretzels, etc.

• Travel-sized scented lotion

Please note: Snacks should be non-perishable, and ALL items must be brand new. 

To learn more, please email brittany@forrestspencefund.org.

Prayer Shawls

We are looking for a knitter or a group of knitters who would be led to knit and/or crochet prayer shawls for our Bereavement Cart. Our hope and desire is for every family who is having to say goodbye to their child would be given a prayer shawl while in the hospital and take home with them. 

Brittany was given one while in the hospital with Forrest and it brought her so much comfort to know she was cared for and prayed over. 

We would like them large enough to fit around adult shoulders.  We have no opinions on color, type of yawn, string, etc. We want it ideally to have a note attached to it (an example is an index card safety pinned to the shawl) saying that the recipient was prayed for as this shawl was knitted/crocheted. We want our families to know they are cared for and loved. We found this link to be a great resource for knitting and crocheting prayer shawls.  

https://www.shawlministry.com/instructions.html

We will gladly accept prayer shawls year-round.  

Dropping off or Mailing Shawls

If you are local to the Memphis area, shawls can be dropped off at our office Mondays 8:30 AM-11:00 AM and Tuesdays/Thursdays from 8:30 AM-2:30 PM.  

Our office location is 2112 Court Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104. 

If you are not local, they can be mailed to our office address above.