Precious Wings Fundraising

In May 2024 our beautiful daughter, Eloise Grace Iannarella, was born at 39 weeks and passed away just 10 hours later. Though her time with us was brief, her impact on our hearts will last forever.

The grief and turmoil that follows after loosing a baby can feel lonely and overwhelming, and finding ways to honour and integrate the memory of your child into everyday life is a journey that no one should have to face alone.

When Eloise passed we were given a memory box from Precious Wings. In my professional capacity I had handed out memory boxes to bereaved parents before, I wasn’t prepared to receive a box myself. I will never forget the moment the midwife walked into the room with a pink memory box for my husband and I, my heart sank, I felt angry and repelled. I didn’t want a box! I knew what it represented, we weren’t walking out of  the hospital with our beautiful baby. We were walking out with empty arms, a heavy heart and beginning a journey that felt terrifying, daunting and lonely.

What I didn’t realise that day was that Precious Wings is more than a memory box containing hand & foot prints and a lock of hair. It’s a community full of bereaved families willing and waiting to provide support to each other. It’s a space that feels comforting, calm and safe. It’s a place where tears are welcome, hearts are kind, arms are open and ears are willing to listen.

Every memory box has been lovingly made by another bereaved family as a comfort and to give a little bit of hope to newly bereaved families that they too will survive this horrible journey. It’s a tool for bereaved families to honour they child, write their name and to hold out their hand and open the door to a newly bereaved family and say we a here for you when you need us and when you are ready.

I am so grateful to the family that provided our memory box for Eloise. I now look at our beautiful box as our life line. It’s shown us unconditional support, provided us with connection to other bereaved families, created new friendships and gave us an avenue to give back to the bereaved community.

Eloise is truly loved and missed every day. We say her name everyday at home and donating precious wings boxes helps keep her memory alive for us.

We would love for those who love and honour our Eloise as much as we do to donate to Precious Wings to help them continue to provide memory boxes to bereaved families. A $70 donation can provide a box for a family in their darkness days but all donations big or small can make a lasting difference to a family.

Thank you and Lots of  Love

Claire, Steven & Eloise Iannarella

Precious Wings' purpose is to:

• provide love, hope, understanding and support to families facing the devastating loss of their child.
• ensure all families who have lost a child have a feeling of ‘not being alone’ when leaving hospital with empty arms, and that they receive the support they need to navigate this difficult grief journey.

Precious Wings:

• provides Queensland hospitals with memory boxes to give to families whose babies or children pass away from any cause from 16 weeks gestation up to 18 years of age,
• provides miscarriage bags to Queensland hospitals for losses from 5 – 16 weeks gestation,
• enables bereaved parents to create their own boxes in memory of their own child to supply their local hospitals, an immensely healing process and means each box is made with love and understanding. Families are able to utilise our Precious Wings Headquarters in Windsor to bring their community together (family, friends, workplace, school community etc) to make memory boxes in honour of their child.
• supports 'beyond the box' by running peer support programs and support groups including memory box making facilitated by a qualified counsellor, yoga, art therapy.
• provides education to health professionals, funeral homes and other groups on caring for bereaved families and the use of memory boxes.

All our services are provided free of charge.