Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Cantrell.
Hi Jordan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My 16-year-old brother, Toby Cantrell, lost his life from injuries he sustained in an automobile accident on 12/23/2020. He became an organ donor and gave the gift of life to many on Christmas Day. My family and I were given a teddy bear with the sound of Toby’s heartbeat inside. The hospital only had one of those bears and stated that they had little supplies to make keepsake items. This heartbeat animal is something our family will cherish forever! This inspired us to start the T3C Foundation. We want any family that loses a child 20 or younger to have as many of these heartbeat animals as they want or need for the loved ones left behind. We currently have animals in pediatric units at four different hospitals across the state of South Carolina including Spartanburg Regional, Prisma Health Children’s- Greenville, Prisma Health Children’s- Columbia, and Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital. Our goal is to get our heartbeat animals in as many pediatric hospitals as possible!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Currently one of our biggest challenges is the lack of funding. Our primary support group at this time consists of mainly family and friends. We would like to grow our support base to include others outside of the Upstate.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that relies fully on donations. In the spring we have a car show and in the fall we have a golf tournament to raise monies to purchase heartbeat bears and cover the cost of the foundation’s operation. Currently, our foundation is run completely by volunteers and all money donated goes towards purchasing heartbeat animals to place in hospitals. We have purchased over 500 heartbeat animals to date and have plans to purchase many more!
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
We call it being blessed. Our foundation has been fully supported by our small town.
Pricing:
- $20 will sponsor one heartbeat animal
Contact Info:
- Website: T3CFoundation.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072151811156
