The Bo Paul Project

03/25/2025

Our family and nonprofit wants to give a special and heartfelt shoutout to two incredible young ladies.

Friends Malarie and Cressa have been leading the World Helping Squad for nearly four years now. Each year they raise funds through special events they put together and host, such as bake sales and even a Harvest Party (that’s a big deal in little Decatur County!) they then select an organization that they want to donate their funds to. In the past they have donated a very generous amount to Riley Children’s Hospital, local animal shelters, families that have fallen on extremely devastating times…the list just goes on.

This year the World Helping Squad was thoughtful enough to select The Bo Paul Project and our goal to continue helping grieving families as their recipient!

Last Friday we met with Cressa and Malarie along with their moms and discussed all of the amazing opportunities they have given and received along their journey. We’re talking awards, news pages, Grand Marshall parade stuff…meanwhile I’m sitting there in just awe of how genuinely incredible these 11 year old girls are. To be so sincere and determined to make such a difference in this world, especially at such a young age and to have stuck with it since an even younger age! When I was 7/8, the only thing on my mind was the latest and greatest new toy…not creating a plan to help save the world! But that’s these two without a doubt. They had all of their original draw ups, sketches, ideas, etc. when they spoke of their hard work they talked like it was no big deal and like it’s just the right thing to do in life. So modest. I felt speechless and all I could keep saying was wow as the list of good they have done just kept growing.

As our visit concluded they presented us with official World Helping Squad Badges and a very generous donation. We shared some hugs and a few tears and left feeling so grateful that our paths crossed. Justin and I both sat in almost total silence on the ride back home…just taking in the amount of gratitude we both felt after talking with these girls. We stopped by to visit with Bo before heading home and we felt in our hearts that he’s continuing to walk by our sides and lead us right to all of these incredible families.

I never wanted something like this to be my calling in life, but I am reminded often that what we are doing matters and how special it is to get to meet individuals sharing the same goal in life to help others.

Endless amount of thank you’s to Cressa and Malarie with the World Helping Squad along with their families (especially their moms, Laura and Kristin) for helping guide them through this special adventure that brought them to us 🤍 🌎 💙

11/06/2024

Let’s talk triggers.

Grief is a weird place. A place where both immense love and sadness coincide.

Eleven months into my grief journey and it’s brought out emotions in me that I never knew could exist.

Each person experiences grief differently. Different stages, different coping mechanisms, different triggers, etc. Before we lost Bo, I was familiar with there being different stages of grief…but I had no idea the depth behind them. I had never lost anyone very close to me, therefore, I had never had to walk this path. Something that I was NOT aware of, were the triggers associated with losing someone you love.

Triggers can come in many forms…A scent, a piece of clothing, a song or sound, places. There is no list, it varies for each person. For me personally, one that I never expected to be a trigger is someone chewing gum loudly. The night we found out Bo was gone it felt like an eternity was passing while our nurse tried to find his heartbeat. The room was very silent and I just remember listening to the sound of her chewing her gum. Not that this was ever anything that would have bothered me in the past or I would have ever even noticed…but my mind was hyper-focusing on every sound, praying to hear a heartbeat, but all I could hear was gum chewing.

It was months later before I realized this was a trigger for me. Someone close to me was chewing gum and popping bubbles and I had to step away from them. It came out of nowhere and it hit me like a ton of bricks. My chest immediately felt heavy and I couldn’t breathe, my eyes were burning, I started sweating, I couldn’t focus on the conversation and needed to leave. I was taken right back to that night, that moment…just that easily.

Was this their fault? Absolutely not. Other people are not responsible for your triggers, though expressing your feelings to them and helping them understand is a great way cope and work past the anxiety around your triggers.

Communication and expression during your grief journey is so important. Whether that be with a therapist, a family member, a friend, or even journaling (my personal favorite)…so tell me, what’s something you have experienced on your journey that you never thought would be a trigger?

-Shannon, Grief Counseling Specialist 🤍

10/28/2024

Last Friday Justin and I officially partnered with Columbus Regional Health and made our largest donation yet!

I have been working with CRH for the last couple of months on donating Bo Bears and CuddleCots. They had one request, and that was that it would be so nice to have a smaller bassinet for more preterm babies than what comes standard with the traditional CuddleCot setup. So after a lot of research and my husband’s “can do” engineering attitude / mind, we were able to locate and create two new bassinets that fit with the CuddleCot cooling system.

One bassinet is a perfect fit for babies born at term or near term, 35 weeks and beyond. The second bassinet is ideal for babies born preterm, 35 weeks and earlier.

Overall, we were able to donate 2 custom sized bassinets with bedding, a rocking stand, the full CuddleCot package and original bassinet, extra mats and a lifetime warranty on the full system.

We also provided a year’s worth of Bo Bears to their facility (based off of their statistics) and trained employees on how to fill and present them to grieving families.
What made this delivery even sweeter? Our example bear was a perfectly created 5lb 7.5oz bear made special for a mother on their team who is missing her son every day. She got to take this bear home to her family and especially her sweet daughter!

We have put so much work into our foundation and I am so proud of how far we are branching out and the families we are able to reach.

Thank you CRH, for allowing us the honor of partnering with you to reach more families and the ability to provide the gift of time with their angel.

If you or someone you know is aware of a facility that could benefit from these items, please reach out to us and we would be happy to discuss information with them.

All our love, Justin, Shannon, Libby and Bo 🤍

05/01/2024

This is a heart breaking story. If you have a spare dollar, please considering donating to this beautiful family. Sharing this link would also be a great help for them.

Hi my name is Kecia and my step sister Amanda and her husband gave birth to their beautiful baby boys… Kecia Vant Hof needs your support for Eli & Easton Reed

04/12/2024

Shortly after Bo was born, I remember one of our nurses asking if we wanted to have any pictures done of him. This is something I’m so glad they were so kind in offering to us. He was given his first bath, we brushed his hair, and carefully picked from the dozen perfectly matched outfits I had packed…this one was supposed to be his coming home outfit.

They asked us if there were any special items we wanted photographed with him.
“A lot of families use their wedding rings, special jewelry, etc.” our nurse said. Immediately we knew we wanted my Saint Christopher included. This necklace was the one Justin was wearing the night of his accident that I had worn religiously every day since. We both wear one.

“Saint Christopher, holy patron of travelers, protect me, and lead me safely to my destiny”

The other item was his teddy bear. Though it didn’t have any significant meaning at the time, It was his and I wanted to remember him with it.

The following weeks after losing him, there was so much grief…followed by immense anger. Many people tried to provide comforting words…none to which I wanted at the time.
“There’s a reason for everything, God just needed him more” those words struck me with more anger than anything else. “No. Tell me why anyone else needed my son more than I did” I couldn’t find the reason.

I kept searching for my purpose, I always felt it was being a mother and I had failed that…I felt like I didn’t know what I was made for anymore.

The last 3 years have been challenging to say the least and I kept pleading with God “Why…do you even hear me?” But now I know…he did hear me and he was leading me through all of this to my purpose, I just had to find it in his small clues. The necklace, his bear, his nickname…it all tied together, too much to just be coincidence. It’s funny how such small things can feel like they all come full circle.

So now when people tell me there’s a reason for everything, I’ll smile, nod and agree…but I’ll know that God actually means “give it a reason, find it”

Trust in his plan, no matter how much it hurts or how much you can’t understand it. You will find your reason…and it will bring you so much peace one day.

Bo is my reason. My family is my reason.

04/08/2024

1lb 6oz carefully weighed out into 3 bears to ship to a special family whose sweet babe fought for 3 beautiful days before God called him home.

For baby Finley 💙

03/27/2024

This evening Justin and I delivered a bear to a hospital for a little boy called home too soon.

We pray over every bear before we deliver them, during that prayer I thank God for choosing us to be Bo’s parents and leading us to our calling in life.

While I hope to be bringing a small amount of comfort to grieving families, I realize my face isn’t the one they ever hoped to see coming through those hospital doors.

I know how special these bears are and the peace they can provide to families….but sometimes I have to stop and remind myself of that, because this journey is hard. It’s hard to stay strong at times, when all I want to do is hold these families and tell them “I know”

There is no right way or wrong way to grieve. That’s the thing about social media, I’ve heard from so many people how well I am coping with my grief…but what they don’t see are the days I struggle to get out of bed, or the days I find a smile upon my face followed by immediate sorrow because Bo should be here. It’s picking items up off of his grave before a storm so they don’t blow away. It’s having a collection of things from stores, that he will never play with but buying them anyways because they would have been so perfect for him.

I have to remind myself constantly that most people don’t understand, and I used to find myself so angry, but now I consider it a blessing….they are so blessed to not understand this kind of heartbreak, and I hope they never have to understand. I hope I never have to deliver a bear to you under these circumstances….but if I do…I see you, I hear you, I’m here for you, and I’m always praying for your family.

As always, sending all my love to everyone following our journey…even through the hard days 💙🧸

03/14/2024

Most days you’ll see me posting perfectly put together bears ready to go to families. Other days sometimes look like driving an hour+ to deliver a bear to a family living with their own struggle and nightmare. A family that I’ve never met, but share so much in common with.

Life is delicate, time is precious. I know Bo would be proud of the impact he’s making.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our journey thus far, because of you we’re able to do what we’re doing 💙

02/27/2024

We are adding so many new “Bo Bear” options for you to choose from!
These make for such great remembrance gifts of your littles! And for my expecting parents following this page, you can purchase one of these bears with a recorder to have your little one’s heartbeat recorded in (one of my favorite options, we are so blessed to have Bo’s)

02/20/2024

For Bo ✨💙🧸

02/07/2024

EXCTING NEWS 💙💗
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Something I have found a lot of peace in doing for Bo is writing letters to him. At first I thought, “That won’t do anything for me” when it was recommended. Boy was I wrong. I felt closer to him with every letter.

So I thought, why not publish my own journal to add to our project?
Well, I finally got the final draft of it published today and I’m hopeful to have this on our website and available for families here very soon!

Thank you all again for the outpouring amount of support through our journey.
💙🧸💗

02/06/2024

For Madeline 💗🧸
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13 ounces