The Heart of The Mitten Gala

A Meaningful Evening for The Mitten: Big Hearts for Michigan’s Littlest Hands

The Heart of the Mitten Gala is more than an evening of celebration. It is an opportunity to come together for Michigan’s children and families who are facing some of life’s most difficult moments.

At The Mitten Pediatric Palliative & Hospice Foundation, we believe every child’s life—no matter how brief or medically complex—deserves comfort, dignity, and love.

Today, The Mitten provides comfort, resources, advocacy, and compassionate support to children and young adults from birth through age 21 living with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. We walk alongside families navigating serious illness, pediatric palliative care, and end-of-life care, including complex medical needs such as ventilator support and advanced life-sustaining technologies.

We work alongside families, healthcare providers, and communities across Michigan to help children receive care that honors who they are—while giving families the stability, understanding, resources, and support they need during an incredibly difficult journey.

But We Know We Can Do More.

Tomorrow, The Mitten will bring Michigan’s first dedicated residential pediatric hospice home to life.

Imagine a warm, welcoming place where a child can receive expert pediatric end-of-life care in a home-like setting rather than a hospital.

A place where families are surrounded by medical, emotional, and practical support.

Where siblings can simply be siblings.

Where parents can focus on holding their child, making memories, and being a family instead of managing care.

And where no family has to face their hardest days alone.

This Is What We Are Building Together.

Through the care we provide today and the pediatric hospice home we are building for tomorrow, The Mitten is working to create a new standard for pediatric end-of-life care in Michigan—one rooted in comfort, dignity, compassion, and love.

Our work is about more than hospice.

It is about giving families choices.

It is about making sure children are cared for as children—not simply as patients.

It is about surrounding families with the support they deserve when they need it most.

And it is about changing what pediatric end-of-life care can look like for generations of Michigan families to come.

Your presence at the Heart of the Mitten Gala helps make that future possible.

Thank you for believing in this mission, for standing beside Michigan families, and for having Big Hearts for Michigan’s Littlest Hands. 💗

The Inaugural Heart of The Mitten Foundation Gala

A meaningful evening benefiting The Mitten Pediatric Palliative and Hospice Foundation