Gathering Hope Origin Story
August 29, 2010
Matthew Lee Vantine was stillborn at 24 weeks to Brad and Carol Vantine. Carol knew that she couldn't let Matthew's memory die but didn't know how or when the rest of the story would play out. She waited for God to show her how He would use Matthew to change her and to bring hope.
April 6, 2014
James Marcus Lauderdale was born via emergency c-section at 41 weeks. James lived only 18 hours, but made more of an impact on those around him in those eighteen hours than many make in a lifetime.
June 2014
While sitting in Bible study, Peyton saw a picture flash in her mind. As quickly as it came, it was gone but she didn't forget what she saw. She saw women gathered together worshipping in candlelight, bittersweet tears, coming together for a unified reason. She saw Gathering Hope and received the call to action. It wasn't an easy journey, but surrounded by an amazing group of volunteers, her vision started becoming a reality as the planning commenced.
October 22, 2015
Over 70 women met at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fort Worth, TX to celebrate the lives of their babies despite torrential downpours. Despite Peyton's fears. Despite a complete power outage. Despite all that tried to stop it from happening, God showed up in a big way and Peyton's vision was a reality. Women gathering together in candlelight, united by a common, bittersweet bond.
January 1, 2017
Carol launched a blog, Matthew's Song, and started focusing on using Matthew's story to minister to others who were suffering from loss of pregnancy. This calling came after walking with a friend through a painful miscarriage and seeing the need for support and the lack of conversation that was happening despite the large numbers of women she knew who had suffered these losses.
February 19, 2017
After discussing how her church could get more involved in helping these families with the Outreach director at her church, she told Carol about Peyton and Gathering Hope. Early in the morning, Carol sent Peyton a message on Facebook and Peyton replied relatively quickly. After a few days of correspondence, they agreed on a time to meet for coffee.
February-March 2017
Instantly, Peyton and Carol clicked and knew that God was up to something. The first day at Starbucks they both knew that Gathering Hope was going to happen, but they didn't say it out loud until the second meeting in March, at another coffee shop. They moved forward with the October date since it is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. Despite Peyton's decision to have only one Gathering Hope, God had other plans. A date was set for October 22, 2017 (ironically the same date as the last Gathering Hope) at The Summit in Aledo, TX.
July 11, 2017
We had our first big team meeting at Shep's place in Weatherford. Over half of the team was able to meet. The feeling in the air was overwhelming. Such love was radiating off of every volunteer and it felt like we'd always known each other. I have no doubt that moms will feel at ease quickly at Gathering Hope with such a warm group of women. We couldn't be more lucky with such an amazing group of volunteers.
These women are amazing!
To say we feel overwhelmed by the amount of support we've received would be an understatement.
October 22, 2017
Over 130 attendees and volunteers gathered together once again to celebrate the lives of their children with other women who had walked the same path. We are honored to be invited in to their stories and lives.
Just SOME of the amazing volunteers that helped make GH2017 a reality!
December 2017
A Board of Directors was established and met for the first time to set the direction and mission of Gathering Hope going forward.
March 2018
Gathering Hope becomes an official organization!
April 21, 2018
Author, Sarah Philpott, is announced as the speaker of Gathering Hope 2018 and the date released for Octobr 14, 2018 at the Summit in Aledo.
October 14, 2018
Gathering Hope takes another step forward with our third annual event, registering over 175 women. We are amazed at all God is doing in our organization and the lives of the women (and men) we’ve been blessed to meet.
February 2019
Gathering Hope officially announces that we are moving beyond Texas and into Oklahoma for 2019! We continue to be amazed by the doors that are opening and the way our mission is spreading outside of the DFW metroplex.
October 2019
Gathering Hope hosts gatherings in Texas and Oklahoma with over 275 moms registering!
GH DFW - October 5, 2019
GH OKC - October 26, 2019
November 2019
GH announces a third state will host Gathering Hope in 2020… Delaware!
Adrienne and Denise will be coordinating Delaware 2020!
2020
Due to COVID-19, Gathering Hope shifted directions and offered our gathering virtually with over 300 moms signed up, representing 39 states and 5 countries! On October 15, Gathering Hope hosted our first ever Virtual Wave of Light, honoring the memory of 355 babies who are loved and missed tremendously.
2021
In 2021, we did our very first Live Streaming Gatherings to Oklahoma, Delaware, and Florida with home groups meeting in Indiana and Minnesota. We continued offering our live In-Person Gathering in Texas and meeting Virtually as well.
On October 15, we held our second Annual Wave of Light virtually where we were able to read off the names of over 300 babies.
2022
2022 was a year of firsts for us! We launched our very first podcast called Slaying the Stigma as well as our first Leadership Kit so that anyone could host a Gathering in their own hometown. We had Gatherings in Oklahoma, Delaware, Nebraska, and Minnesota as well as a virtual Gathering. We also launched our first all-day Gathering in Texas, adding breakout sessions, panel discussions, lunch, and vendors.
We hosted our 2nd Fairways for Families Golf Tournament and continued with our second year of the Timely Tender Tote along with our 3rd Virtual Wave of Light! It was a busy year but an awesome one full of new opportunities!
