A word from our Founders:

Since Be Brave for Isla’s foundation, I’ve had one task on my To Do List that has never been crossed off: write a “What Does It Mean to Be Brave?” post.

We felt it was important to share what bravery looked like in our family, because it has never meant moving on, being “okay” again, or “pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.”

After Isla died, sometimes bravery meant getting out of bed and brushing my teeth – even if I crawled right back under the covers after. Sometimes it meant not getting out of bed at all, or letting myself cry so hard that I threw up. Bravery meant finding a way to exist at all without Isla here. I told myself, and any loss-parent that I met, “opening your eyes in the morning is enough.”

Choosing bravery every morning, day after day, soon led us to create Be Brave for Isla, a way to support other families like ours and honor Isla’s beautiful life. Now, almost three years later, we have made the bittersweet decision to close Be Brave for Isla at the end of 2025.

Since founding Be Brave for Isla, we have proudly supported grieving families with Isla’s brave spirit leading the way. With your help, we raised over $180,000 for bereaved families in need. Sixty families were awarded our grants to help honor their children in death, and dozens attended our peer support group. We established a counseling network of over thirty providers from Huntsville down to Spanish Fort, and hundreds received our grief support resources across the state before ever leaving the hospital.

Every family we served lost the most precious thing in their life. When they had nowhere to turn, we were able to walk alongside them and show them what bravery could mean in their days ahead. Supporting these families in Isla’s memory has been the honor of our lives, and it is with immense gratitude that we close our doors.

As we prepare to close Be Brave for Isla, we feel a deep sense of peace knowing that Isla’s light will continue to shine through Ryker’s Rainbow, a nonprofit that walked beside our family when she died. All remaining funds will be donated to them to continue their beautiful mission and “Be the Light” for families who suffer from pregnancy, newborn, or infant loss in Alabama through gifts of remembrance, sibling support, and financial assistance.

To every parent, supporter, volunteer, donor, counselor, and hospital partner: thank you will never be enough. Our mission would never have been possible without you, our village.

Being brave has never meant moving on – it has always meant finding a way forward with love, with tenderness, and with community. Isla taught us that. And because of her, countless families have come to know that they are not alone and that they can be brave, just like our little girl.

Love,

Hannah and Jake Smith, Isla’s Mom and Dad

Ryker’s Rainbow is a Huntsville-based nonprofit created to bring hope and healing to families who have experienced the loss of a child. Founded in memory of Ryker Schoff, the organization exists to ensure no family walks through the heartbreak of child loss alone.

Ryker’s Rainbow has supported more than 750 families through their 14 hospital partnerships. Its outreach includes the Ryker’s Rainbow Community Prayer Garden in South Huntsville, a peaceful space featuring a walking labyrinth, pergola swings, an Angel of Hope statue, and engraved memory plaques that honor babies and children by name. The organization also provides Blessing Boxes filled with comfort items and resources, financial support for families facing unexpected expenses, and sibling support programs to help brothers and sisters navigate grief in healthy and creative ways. In addition, Ryker’s Rainbow hosts remembrance events throughout the year, offering families and the community opportunities to gather, reflect, and find hope together. For more information, please visit rykersrainbow.org.