The Wisconsin Children’s Hospital has a history of controversial “woke” actions.
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin has apologized for rejecting a beloved non-profit’s toy donation for sick kids because the non-profit group’s logo contains the word “blessings.”
The non-profit revealed the rejection on its Facebook page, saying the hospital claimed Breckens ‘blessings’ “can be perceived as a religious affiliation which goes against their policies.”
Brecken’s Blessings is an organization “committed to making a difference in the lives of those affected by congenital heart disease (CHD). Our mission is to raise awareness for Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), provide support to families and medical professionals and help fund the Herma Heart Institute at Childrens Hospital WI for research and innovation,” the non-profit’s website says. It’s named after a child, Brecken, who lost his life to that disease.
The hospital was blistered on social media after Brecken’s Blessings posted about the situation on its Facebook page. That led to the apology.
“We made a mistake and have apologized to Brecken’s Mom. To be perfectly clear: Children’s Wisconsin values the work of Brecken’s Blessings and their use of the word ‘blessings’ should not have been a hindrance to accepting their generous donations,” Children’s Wisconsin wrote Wisconsin Right Now.
“As a values-based organization, we will take the learnings from this mistake seriously and work to ensure our guidelines are both well communicated and consistent with our mission. We hope to be able to work with Brecken’s Blessings in the future and are truly sorry for the hurt this has caused.”
Brecken’s Blessings was flooded with support. “This is ridiculous! My son received one of Breckens Blessings toy donations when admitted this spring and it brought the biggest smile to his face during a scary time. I’m so sorry they turned your donations away when they know the joy it brings to kids and parents. And the fact they previously approved it is beyond annoying,” wrote one woman on Brecken’s Blessings’ comment thread.
On December 18, Brecken’s Blessings revealed:
“As many of you know, Children’s Hospital has always had a special place in our hearts. It is because of them that we were inspired to create a non profit in the first place. Besides raising money for the congenital heart disease community at Childrens, we have also put on many successful toy and book drives for the kids at the hospital throughout the years .
It has been brought to my attention that our 3rd annual Christmas toy drive donations will not be accepted by the hospital, because of our sticker logo having the word ‘blessings’ in it. Therefore, Breckens ‘blessings’ can be perceived as a religious affiliation which goes against their policies.
This hurts my heart and I’ve spent a lot of the morning crying about it. I wanted to be honest and transparent with everyone who donated a toy with the intentions of it going to the hospital.
Although the donations aren’t going to the hospital, we have decided to donate the toys to other local organizations such as life connections and the women’s shelter that we know will still have a positive impact on families in need. ♥️ Thank you to everyone for their continued love and support of Brecken’s Blessings. Please no hateful comments.”
Children’s Hospital has a history of “woke” behavior. Since 2016, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, located in Milwaukee, has given puberty blockers or hormone therapy to about 141 minors. Since 2021, the hospital has conducted 11 breast surgeries on minors, both augmentation and mastectomies. The Children’s Hospital website says, “In some cases, our services may include reversible puberty-suppressing hormone therapy, gender-affirming hormone therapy, surgical treatments, and speech/voice training.”
In 2023, Children’s Wisconsin Foundation canceled the iconic Briggs & Al’s Run Walk because it wanted a more “inclusive” event.
When it comes to the toy donation controversy, the non-profit confirmed the hospital offered an apology.
Brecken’s Blessings later posted, “Update: Childrens Hospital did reach out to me personally this afternoon offering their sincere apologies. They stated the situation was handled very poorly.”
We asked Children’s, “Who made the mistake and how and will any disciplinary action result?” But we did not hear back.
In the comment thread, the non-profit shared an email exchange between Brecken’s mom Brittany Markee and a hospital worker. Markee wrote,
“This is the email I wrote after our phone call of her stating the toys cannot be accepted due to our sticker saying Breckens blessings and blessings indicating religion. Honestly I was so in shock I got off the phone call and started crying. I wrote this email hours later…
‘After careful consideration we have decided we will be cutting ties with Children’s for all future toy drive donations. To date, our non profit has donated 4,150 books, 500 ICU parent gift baskets, 1,500 toys ( would have been 2,100 total after this years contributions) and most recently $10,000 to the Herma Heart institute.
We have built our entire non profit around helping Childrens Hospital in one way or another. This hospital means a lot to our family.
I spend a lot of time and efforts collecting the donations and sorting through them . I know that the hospital has strict policies and I’ve always honored that and eliminated any donation that was portrayed as religious and donated them elsewhere.
However, I was very disappointed to find out that our ‘Breckens blessings’ logo is no longer accepted because the word ‘blessings’ is thought to be a religious symbol. My intentions behind Breckens blessings was to spread goodness and to bring happiness, not to impose my religion on anybody.
I would like to know why this changed as of this year, because it was always approved in the past. We were told our logo was allowed but they didn’t want ‘in loving memory’ on it which we totally Understood that it could scare families and respected that. Never in a million years would I think of our logo to be controversial one bit.
I am very disheartened about this situation. We have told our donors since you won’t accept the Breckens blessings toys this year we will be donating to the woman’s shelter and life’s connections. There will be no further donations from our organization anymore.”
Markee says she received this response from a hospital worker.
“I am truly sorry if I have unintentionally created a barrier in our relationship. Your contributions to Children’s Wisconsin have been profoundly impactful, and your passion has left an impression on our staff and patients.
Please know that I honor your decision, as I want to ensure your efforts align with what is best for the mission and vision of Brecken’s Blessings.
I also want to extend my sincere apologies for any lack of clarity in my team’s communication with you. While the matter of a sticker may seem minor, our team strives to be consistent in how we apply the standards that support donation of gifts for our patients.
Should you decide in the future to continue your efforts with us, I would be more than happy to explore ways we could work together to support those we serve.”
Brecken’s Blessings later posted the following message on Facebook:
“I want to be very clear that I have not spoken to anybody from any news sources. Many have been reaching out, but I have not spoken to anyone. My intentions were to never speak bad about anyone. I just wanted to be honest about our donations not going to the intended place.
Right now, I am focusing on boxing up these donations and getting them to people in need before Christmas. That is my main priority.
I know so many of you are outraged, and frankly I am disappointed and sad about the matter too. Regardless of how Childrens Hospital volunteer department handled the situation, the core providers at Childrens are what makes Childrens Hospital so great.
The doctors, nurses, physical/occupational therapists, respiratory therapists, volunteers, educators, speech therapists, dietitians, social/case workers, researchers, chaplains, environmental service workers, pharmacists, phlebotomists and so many more are what makes the hospital so incredible.
The love and care Brecken received from the staff was what inspired us to create a non profit and fight for the Congenital Heart Disease community. Brecken truly was a BLESSING in our lives and in the lives of so many others that knew him.
We knew after he passed away, we had two options for our grief. To be angry or to take our grief and turn it into something positive.
Brecken was the happiest 2 year old. He found joy in everything he did. He loved everyone and everything in his life despite all he went through. We knew we wanted to keep spreading his love and happiness to others and make an impact to the hospital that tried so hard to save him. With that being said, please no hate.”
