Events

Please join us for these special events and meetings. For more information, please contact us by email   info@sidsma.org.

Infant Loss Support Groups:

ONGOING. For families experiencing the sudden unexpected death of an infant. Parents, grandparents, daycare providers and friends welcome.

Meetings are held the first Thursday of every month from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at McLean Presbyterian Church, 1020 Balls Hill Road, McLean, VA.

Directions: Take exit #44 off the Capitol Beltway onto Route 193, Georgetown Pike. Go East on Georgetown Pike. Take the first Right turn onto Balls Hill Road. Go approximately ¼ mile to the church on the right.

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Brisan's Bash 2008

Sunday June 1  noon till 6 pm

9070 Meetze Road, Warrenton Virginia

A Celebration in honor of Brisan Winner

$5 admission for kids, $20 for adults

Great Food from Outback

Fun and Games for kids, including moonbounce, water slides, face painting, games, raffles and more!

Prizes include a trip for four to St. Michael's Maryland, Gift baskets, Nationals Tickets, Gift Certificates to restaurants and much more.

Come out to the country and spend a day having fun

while raising money for SIDS Mid-Atlantic

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Please join us on Friday June 13 for the fourth annual Stratton Woods Golf Tournament in memory of Kylie Xiu Clifford

Reston National Golf Club, Reston VA

1pm for lunch and check in, 2 pm shotgun start

$120 includes lunch, greens fees, and "goody bag"

Get a team together from work or your friends, have fun, and help raise money for SIDS Mid-Atlantic to support outreach and education.  

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 SIDS Mid-Atlantic and Reston Hospital Center Present

"Loss and Grief in Pregnancy and the First Year of Life"

  an RTS Bereavement Certification Program

October 27 and 28

Reston Hospital Conference Center

Reston Virginia

$95

This comprehensive two day program provides insights, knowledge and hands-on experience to gain the skills necessary to interact with families experiencing perinatal and infant loss.  Participants will hear directly from parents who have experienced a loss, as well as from professionals who care for bereaved families. The course is open to health professionals, clergy, chaplains, first respondesrs, funeral directors and others who care for parents suffering the loss of a baby or child.

To register, contact Betty Connal at bconnal@aol.com

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12th Annual Wawa Walk for SIDS  September 14 2008

SIDS Mid-Atlantic, The CJ Foundation for SIDS, and Wawa Food Corporation will sponsor the 12 th annual Walk to Fight SIDS at Locust Shade Park in Triangle Virginia , and Buddy Attick Park in Greenbelt , Maryland on Sunday September 14 2008from 8:45 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The mission of SIDS Mid-Atlantic is to support family members and others who have been affected by the sudden, unexpected death of an infant, and to provide education and outreach to help prevent SIDS. SIDS Mid-Atlantic provides peer contact support, support groups, memorial services, newsletter and website, and education and training to the medical community, child care providers, and the public about SIDS and infant death. SIDS Mid-Atlantic also provides portable cribs to needy families so that every baby has a safe place to sleep, thus reducing the risk of SIDS.

Almost 4500 babies—as many people who died at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11—die of Sudden Infant Death in the United States every year .

Research continues into the cause of SIDS and other infant death, and we hope there will come a day when our services are no longer needed. The CJ Foundation for SIDS has recently created the “CJ SIDS Center Without Walls”. Directed by Dr. Hannah Kinney, which unites Children's Hospital in Boston , Columbia Medical School , Dartmouth Medical School , Harvard Medical School , Yale Medical School and Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego into a collaborative to focus research on:

•  Determining the causes of the brainstem serotonin defects in SIDS infants

•  Developing a battery of tests to diagnose and identify living infants at risk of these defects, and more likely to die of Sudden Infant Death

•  Developing a therapeutic intervention to correct the underlying serotonin defect in these identified babies to prevent SIDS.

Until that time, we need your support to raise the funds to enable us to continue our mission of helping families affected by a sudden infant death and educating the public about reducing the risk of SIDS. Please contribute what you can to help us continue to provide services.

SIDS MidAtlantic is a 501c3 charity, Your contribution is tax deductible. Our EIN is 01-0638075.

Please come out on Sunday September 14 to walk, enjoy the food and meet some new families. Please invite your family, friends and neighbors to walk on September 14 or to contribute to SIDS Mid-Atlantic. And also, please ask your employers if they will provide matching contributions or if they will help us sponsor the walk.

If you prefer to donate by credit card, you can do so by going to our website www.sidsma.org

SIDS Walk 2007  slide show of the walk

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Please join us for the annual SIDS Mid-Atlantic

"Celebration of Remembrance"

Sunday November 11

from 5 to 8 p.m.

at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington  

4444 Arlington Boulevard

Arlington, Virginia

Family and friends of babies who have died from any cause

are welcome to attend.

The church is at the corner of Route 50 (Arlington Blvd)

and George Mason Drive.

Enter the parking lot from George Mason Drive.

Please bring a dish to share.

If  your last name begins with letters

A through H, please bring a salad,

I through P please bring a side dish,

and Q through Z, please bring a dessert.

Family members and friends are all welcome to attend.

Children are especially welcome, and we will have people available to babysit and entertain the little ones.

The family dinner and get together will be followed by a brief

and moving memorial service in the chapel.

If you have a picture of your baby that you would like to include in the slide show, please email it to bconnal@aol.com

If you have a poem, prayer or anything you would like to read or have read in memory of your baby, please bring it.

We hope you all will join us for this special occasion.

RSVP to Betty Connal at

bconnal@aol.com

2007 SIDS Celebration of Remembrance  slide show

Please come to the second annual Brisan's Bash

in Memory of Brisan Winner

June 24 2007, noon till 6 p.m.

9070 Meetze Road, Warrenton Virginia

A Fantastic Fundraiser for SIDS Mid-Atlantic

$5 admission for children $20 for adults

Raffles and door prizes! 

one week vacation in Cabo San Lucas Mexico

Day trip for four to St. Michaels Maryland from Watermark Cruises

Gift Certificates, Gift Baskets and more

Food donated by Outback!  Fun and games, face painting and tattoos, water slide! Bring bathing suits

for more information contact Michelle Winner  michelle@bedbugdesigns.com

Past Events

OUR PHOTO GALLERIES are here.

Second Annual Stratton Woods Charity Golf Classic
In Memory of Kylie Xiu Clifford June 16th Click here

First Annual Brisan's Bash June 24 Click here

SIDS Mid-Atlantic Celebration of Remembrance: “ Creating Memories”

Saturday November 19 6 to 9 P.M.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington

This event includes a potluck dinner and memorial. Please click here for details.

SIDS WALK 2005  Sunday September 11

Almost 3000 babies a year—as many people who died at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001—die of SIDS in the United States every year.
72 babies in Virginia and 55 babies in Maryland died of SIDS last year, and another 110 babies died of “other” sudden infant death causes, such as accidental suffocation in unsafe beds, infection, and undiagnosed metabolic or cardiac disorders. We walk in memory of these children and to raise funds to prevent other infant deaths.

BOWLING FOR SIDS April 28, 2004

Worldwide candle lighting® on National children's memorial day

December 12, Sunday, at 7 pm local time for one hour. A 24-hour remembrance for all children who have died, held by The Compassionate Friends. www.compassionatefriends.org

Celebration of Remembrance 2004

The 2004 Celebration of Remembrance Memorial Service was Saturday November 13, 2004 at Messiah United Methodist Church in Springfield, Virginia.

Click here for a photo gallery of this event.

David Ratliff, father of Chloe, sang the song he wrote in her memory: "Chloe's Playground."

Ornaments for each baby in the shape of stars were created by Patti Smith, grandmother of Louis Copps.
"Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where our loved ones shine down to let us know they are happy"

Dona Dei, Parish Nurse, led us in prayer:

" Blessed are those who kindle the flame of creation
Blessed are those who spark the imagination
Blessed are those who weave threads of life throughout the generations
Welcome little ones, children of God, loved by God,
Who turn our longing for healing into illumination."

           September 19, 2004 at 2pm.

           Floris Elementary School, Herndon, VA

Click here for Kylie's memorial page on this site.

Click here to see pictures from the dedication.

WAWA/SIDS MA benefit Golf Tournament

           The golf tournament that Wawa is hosting for us.

           September 17, 2004 10am to 5pm

           The Crossings Golf Club in Richmond, VA.

8TH ANNUAL SIDS WALK 2004

Benefiting SIDS Mid-Atlantic, Wawa, Inc., and the CJ Foundation for SIDS

Sunday, September 12, 2004. Thank you for helping us to pursue the mission of a future in which no parent is faced with the tragedy of losing a baby to SIDS.

Locust Shade Park, Triangle, VA; First Landing State Park, Virginia Beach, VA; Buddy Attick State Park, Greenbelt, MD.

Here are SIDS Walk posters PDF 1, PDF 2.

Click here for a photo gallery of the Walk at Locust Shade Park in Triangle.

SIDS Mid-Atlantic "Celebration of Remembrance"

Sunday November 16, 2003
6 P.M. to 9 P.M.
The Unitarian Church of Arlington
4444 Arlington Boulevard
Arlington, VA

The theme of the Celebration of Remembrance was
"The Gifts Our Children Brought Us"

Click here for a photo gallery of this event.

We invited families to share in the celebration in writing or verbally by contributing to a new tradition. We had a tablecloth available to write a few lines describing how your baby's brief life enriched your life, the special meaning your baby has in your life, and how your relationship with your baby has continued.

We will use these tablecloths for future celebrations and add to them over the years.

The family dinner and get together was followed by a moving memorial service in the chapel.

Sids Walk 2003

SIDS Mid-Atlantic, CJ Foundation for SIDS, and Wawa , Inc. participated in the seventh annual SIDS Walk Sunday (click here to see photos of the event) September 14, 2003 at two locations, Locust Shade Park in Triangle and First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach. As you can see in the pictures, it's an enjoyable and memorable event for families.