Brady Anderson Hart Memorial Children’s Fund
Introduction:
On September 5th, 2020 the Brady Anderson Hart Memorial Children’s Fund was established at Fidelity Charitable Services with an initial deposit of $5,000. This fund was established in memory of our brother Brady Anderson Hart who passed away on October 1st, 1995 as a child at the age of 2 from Neuroblastoma Cancer at the John Hopkins Hospital Children’s Center in Baltimore, MD. We are seeking donations via this Go Fund Me campaign to grow this memorial fund so that yearly donations can be made to 501 C 3 charities whose mission is to support & benefit children in need. This focus is in honor of our brother who passed away as a child.
*Before describing more details about the fund, I’ll pause for a moment to address the likely connection you’ve already made related to our brother’s name. For anyone who was a fan of Major League Baseball in the 90’s, you’ll likely recognize it is strikingly similar to that of the famous Baltimore Orioles player Brady Anderson who dominated the position of center field with the team for many years. This name connection is by no means a coincidence. When our youngest brother was born, our parents actually let us siblings pick the name of our new brother (bold move.) Given we all grew up watching the Orioles and we all agreed our favorite player was Brady Anderson, we selected the name Brady as his first name. In regards to his middle name Anderson, this happened to be both our Mother’s maiden name and the last name of our favorite player. Bonus!
So why start the fund now?:
When our brother passed, my siblings and I were children faced with an incredible loss that we each internalized and coped with differently. To say the least, it was a confusing time in our lives and we were each faced at a very young age with the challenge of making sense of this terrible tragedy, the loss of our brother. While it’s easy to allow negative thoughts regarding his death and illness and the “fairness” of this event to overshadow the memories of his short life, time has proven that focusing on these facts does not define the life of our brother.
Our brother’s life and the illness he faced was truly a catalyst that led to so many good and positive things for so many people. This has become his unintended legacy. Considering for example the impact his life made on his siblings; we developed tremendous strength and the ability to overcome loss at a young age, the fear surrounding death which may have existed before his passing was forever removed, we gained the opportunity to witness the perfect model of what extreme devotion and love between parents and a struggling child looks like, and perhaps greatest of all, we had the opportunity to witness what true love of one’s neighbor looks like as family, friends, church members, nurses, doctors, teachers, coaches and so many others rallied around and cared for a family struggling through this terrible disease. In our time of need, our community provided meals, sitter services, grief comfort, rides, kind words, vacation donations, flowers, toys, books and so many other blessings. My family was lucky enough to see during those dark times the absolute best of humanity and I honestly wish every person had the opportunity to experience that much love from their community. I am convinced a lot of the problems we see in society today would not exist if people cared for their neighbors the way we were cared for at the end of our brother’s life. We will never forget this kindness, compassion and charity and we will forever be thankful.
In line with that sentiment, the purpose of starting the Brady Anderson Hart Memorial Children’s Fund is four-fold. First, the fund is a positive way to honor and remember our brother and leave him with a positive lasting legacy. Secondly, this fund is focused on providing yearly donations to 501 C 3 charities that benefit children in need (particularly those suffering from cancer and other debilitating diseases.) Many, many children stand to benefit every year from these donations as they grow along with the fund. Third, the fund honors the community (our family, friends, church members, nurses, doctors, teachers, coaches, and so many more) who supported my family so perfectly during our time of struggle. The impact this had on our lives and understanding of compassion is absolutely priceless. Finally, starting this fund was truly the response to a divinelike calling and the end result of perseverance through failure. These latter items are further detailed in the next section.
The Inspiration Behind Stating the Fund:
Speaking as the oldest sibling for a moment, the idea to establish the Brady Anderson Hart Memorial Children’s Fund came to me in a way that I can only describe as being divinely inspired. To be more specific, the idea came on a cold, rainy, winter morning nearly four years ago while I started my long drive into work. About two minutes into the commute, a song came on the radio titled “Broken Halos” by Chris Singleton and the powerful words stopped me in my tracks both because the works so perfectly captured for me the purpose of my brother’s life (some thing I was wrestling with at the time) and the timing of hearing the song for the first time was just perfect.
Prior to that day, I had recently visited my brothers grave with my family weeks earlier and I was wrapped up in the weeks that followed with trying to sort out once again the fragments of memories (both good and bad) which I had not lost over the many years that followed his death. I also found myself consumed with attempting to find answers to questions which were simply beyond my understanding. What would things be like today if he had never passed? Would we talk every other week, wrapped up in our busy lives or would we be much closer? Would he have found comfort in having me as his protective, older brother or would he have rebelled against that? What would his personality have developed into had he only had the chance to grow a little older? What would my family look like if this tragedy had never happened, would I be the same person I am today? What did his voice and laugh sound like, I truly no longer remember?
Beyond my fruitless attempts to answer these questions, I also candidly found myself struggling even after so many years later with trying to make sense of such a terrible tragedy. Even more, having recently visited his grave and left once again feeling lost and filled with overwhelming sadness, I found myself questioning what was the purpose of his short life? Arising from the accumulation of these broken thoughts, a question presented itself to me which I simply could not ignore, “Is his legacy (to me) going to be visiting his resting place every few years or year and leaving completely disheartened?” This just can’t be the right way to remember my brother who so profoundly shaped my life and who continues to this day to give me tremendous strength and courage in the face of struggle and adversity. There must be a more positive way to remember and honor him. Then in three short minutes, the words of the song “Broken Halos” effortlessly captured for me the purpose of my brother’s short life and even more amazing, the idea of establishing this fund came to me on the same drive (as I listened to the song over and over again.)
Looking back, I wish the story for starting this fund could have been wrapped up, tied with a bow and shipped at that point in time. I mean the idea to start the fund was there, it just needed to be enacted. But nothing in life is that simple. Life is messy and complicated and it took an additional 3 year journey from that point to actually get the fund established. Considering this timeline, the early stages consisted of truly limited progress. As life / work commitments and responsibilities grew and grew (Marriage, Children, Home Repairs, Bills, etc.) I found it ever convenient to postpone devoting the necessary time to outlining the funds establishment. Then during the middle stages, the financial resources earmarked to start the fund fell through and this further significantly delayed the funds start. Considering the final stages, it just happened to be a running challenge created by my younger brother which unexpectedly was the catalyst that pushed the idea over the finish line. This is further described below…
“In 2019, I reluctantly entered a running challenge to run as many miles as possible in a year (between Oct 1st, 2019 and Sept 30th, 2020.) Over the course of the year and 320+ miles, I heard the song “Broken Halos” a lot during these runs. Each and every time the song played, the same message of starting Brady’s charitable fund came back to me over and over again. Some runs I could dismiss this message from my thinking quickly, other runs the idea just kind of sat there, a monkey on my back, waiting to be fed and enacted. If that wasn’t enough, more and more ideas kept coming to me about the charitable fund as the runs dragged on and on and over time the idea really started to weigh on me. Finally, in late 2020, the message became so clear and frequent I realized I had to take action. Despite years of failed attempts and an overwhelming uncomfortableness related to sharing such a personal story both about my brother’s death and the inspiration behind starting the fund, the Brady Anderson Hart Memorial Children’s Fund was established on Sept 5th 2020. Although the initial value of the fund is 1/10 what I hoped to start the fund at originally, I have at least found a sense of peace in knowing the fund exists. The monkey is finally off my back”
Fund Management:
- The initial focus is to grow the fund so donations become more significant year after year. Each year on October 1st, the direct Hart siblings will get together and evaluate the return of the fund adjusted for inflation, a very small Fidelity fee to operate the donor advised giving account, and the desired long-term growth of the fund (to continue to increase donations yearly.) Based on that review, a donation value will be selected for that year and the donation will be split between the Hart siblings and Parents. Each of these parties will then have the ability to select a children’s charity which they will make the donation to for that year. All donations will then be made before a deadline of April 23rd of the following year. These dates are significant as they represent our brother’s death (October 1st) and his birth (April 23rd.) In regards to making these donations, Fidelity acts as the intermediary to directly make the donation to the charities selected.
- The fund is a donor advised giving account established within Fidelity charitable services. The fund is not owned by any of the Hart siblings personally. Once money is donated, a withdrawal can only be made in the form of a donation (determined by the account holders who are the Hart siblings) to 501 C 3 charitable organizations. Based on this arrangement, none of the donations received can be directed toward personal use. Fidelity prevents these types of transactions within a Donor Advised Fund. Additionally, all donations to the fund are instantly eligible as charitable donations which can be reported on your taxes for the year the donation was made.
- There is only one internal rule established in regards to the charities to be selected. They need to have an emphasis on benefiting or supporting children in need (and they must be a 501 C 3 organization.) This sentiment is in honor of Brady who passed away as a child and in honor of all those people who supported Brady while he was in the hospital.
Initial Fundraising:
- #1 Direct donation to this go fund me account. All net donations will go directly to the Brady Anderson Hart Memorial Children’s Fund
- #2 Inspired by the running challenge over the past year which ultimately led to the establishment of this fund; I (oldest sibling) am going to submit a facebook post on October 1st 2020 asking for willing sponsors to pick a dollar value (or less than a dollar) to donate for every mile I run from October 1st, 2020 through September 30th, 2021. Given I will likely finish around 325 miles for year 2020 (Oct 1st 2019 - Sept 30th 2020), I’m expecting to meet or beat this number in 2021. Sponsors can pick any monetary value per mile (ex. 50 cents) and monthly mileage updates will be provided throughout the year on facebook. All sponsors are asked to provide donations by October 15th 2021. This money will go directly to growing the fund to increase yearly donations. If you are interested in sponsoring, please let me know via a Facebook message or email at [E-Mail ausgeblendet].
Thank you to all sponsors and donators to this charitable cause which will continue to benefit children in need year after year. Brady touched so many lives over the course of two short years on earth and his legacy will now last forever via the charitable fund in his name. Finally, thank you so many years later to all those who supported our family while Brady was battling cancer. Your kind words and actions will never be forgotten by our family.
God Bless,
The Hart Family
Special Thanks:
- The Staff at John Hopkins Hospital Children’s Cancer. Thank you to all the nurses, doctors, grief counselors and support staff working on the 5th and 8th floor children’s units in 1995 who cared so compassionately for my brother
- Brady Anderson and the players from the 1995 Baltimore Orioles team who sent signed pictures and visited my brother while he was in the hospital. Growing up you were heroes to our family and so many kids who loved baseball and watching you play.
- The community of family, friends, church members, teachers, coaches and so many more from the Pasadena, Overlea, Severna Park, Towson, Baltimore and other surrounding areas who rallied around and cared for a family struggling through this terrible disease.
