A BIT ABOUT US

For those that have experienced it, a NICU stay is life changing. Nothing can compare to the changes you feel in your heart of hearts as you watch your infant, much too tiny to be outside of the safe space of your belly, fighting with every inch of themselves. 

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My name is Jennie Gallagher and I met my son twelve weeks early. We spent months in the NICU and I watched my little Alexander fight for his life countless time, all while feeling helpless in my rocking chair next to his isolette home. I know there are others who have been in the same situation, the same rocking chairs, the same corner of the hospital. I know there are others in those same spaces right now, some who are packing their things for the last time as they leave with their infant, some mourning everything they have lost inside of those four walls. This knowledge and my own experience pushed me to start The Early Bird Project. 

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When my son came home, I felt so much passion for helping those who have been in the same spot we ultimately found ourselves in 2019. I have one memory in particular that inspired me.

One day when my son was in the NICU, I walked into his little corner of the room and saw a baby blanket. It was white and blue stripped and had been donated by The Friends of Reading Hospital. It was such a small gesture, but I remember the feeling that overcame me as I looked at it and imagine wrapping my sweet baby boy in it at home. That blanket still sits in his nursery. I want other families to feel that same sense of hope that over-washed me that day, and so The Early Bird Project became.