BAINBRIDGE, GA. (WTXL) — After enduring the heartbreaking loss of their newborn daughter, a Bainbridge couple has channeled their grief into action, founding a nonprofit to help other families facing similar loss.
- After losing their newborn daughter Emerson Rae in 2021, Kaleigh and Allen Glass founded the Emerson Rae of Light Foundation to support grieving parents.
- The foundation donates cuddle cots—cooling devices that give families more time to say goodbye—to rural hospitals, with the first donated to Memorial Hospital and Manor.
- Watch the story to hear why more rural hospitals need cuddle cots.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Kaleigh and Allen Glass lost their daughter, Emerson Rae, in February 2021. In the wake of that tragedy, they founded the Emerson Rae of Light Foundation to honor her memory and provide support to grieving parents.
Their mission? To increase awareness of the importance of cuddle cots—a cooling system that preserves an infant’s body after death, giving families precious extra time to say goodbye.
“For those families to have that time and to get that closure,” said Kaleigh Glass, co-founder of the foundation. On Monday, the Emerson Rae of Light Foundation donated a cuddle cot to Memorial Hospital and Manor in Bainbridge. Each cuddle cot serves as a powerful tool in the grieving process by allowing parents to hold and spend time with their baby in a private and unhurried setting.
“Keeping them where they can hold them and be with them longer is so helpful to the mom and the dad,” said Glass. Though the hope is that no hospital ever needs to use one, Kaleigh emphasizes the importance of making cuddle cots available, especially in rural hospitals that may lack such resources.
“Until you lose a child, this isn't a necessity. That's what we kept being told, this isn't a necessity in hospitals—but it is,” she said. Beyond providing equipment, the Glass family is also advocating for open conversations about grief and infant loss.
“Just to grieve in silence is a weight that nobody should have to bear,” Kaleigh added. The Emerson Rae of Light Foundation plans to donate its next cuddle cot to a hospital in Savannah later this summer.
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