Our Story

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· About Charlotte’s Wings ·

Charlotte’s Wings is a tax exempt, non-profit orga­ni­za­tion founded in March 2008 that is ded­i­cated to sup­port­ing ail­ing chil­dren in South­east Michi­gan through dona­tions of new books to the chil­dren and their fam­i­lies in hos­pi­tal and hos­pice care.  By giv­ing books, Charlotte’s Wings endeav­ors to bring sick chil­dren a smile, a dream, or an escape from an unfor­tu­nate real­ity.  Whether a child is fac­ing some­thing as benign as ton­sil­li­tis or as severe as a ter­mi­nal dis­ease, a book can pro­vide encour­age­ment and com­fort to a sick child dur­ing a chal­leng­ing and fright­en­ing period.

· Charlotte’s Inspiration ·

On Decem­ber 8, 2007, a pre­cious and beloved five-month old girl, Char­lotte, was lost to a rare and incur­able brain dis­ease called Alexander’s Dis­ease.  There have only been 500 reported cases of Alexander’s Dis­ease world­wide.  Charlotte’s untimely pass­ing was a tragedy felt by fam­ily, friends, and count­less mem­bers of her com­mu­nity.  Those who came into con­tact with baby Char­lotte will never for­get the over­whelm­ing sad­ness and sense of help­less­ness occa­sioned by her suf­fer­ing and loss.

Charlotte’s beau­ti­ful fam­ily not only per­se­vered through this painful expe­ri­ence, but they man­aged to spread hope to oth­ers in the process.  To honor Charlotte’s mem­ory, her par­ents looked for an oppor­tu­nity to assist other chil­dren fac­ing ill­ness.  They decided to donate hun­dreds of children’s books to a local hos­pi­tal in trib­ute to Char­lotte.  It was this sim­ple act of gen­eros­ity by Charlotte’s fam­ily dur­ing a time of unimag­in­able grief that inspired Charlotte’s Wings.