Since its inception, the Kyle Busch Foundation (KBF) has been committed to empowering children, families and communities to overcome hardship by providing essential tools (financial, material and experiential) to allow them to live their best lives possible. Through that, Kyle and I have been so proud to partner with and support amazing organizations like the Children’s Hope Alliance, Joyful Hearts, Pretty in Pink Foundation, Speedway Children’s Charities and more who are all doing amazing work and making a big impact in their communities.
This foundation and the work Kyle and I have done together in these communities has meant so much to us. To be able to give back to causes that once helped me – like the Joyful Hearts JoyProm clothes drive – has been so amazing because when I was in high school, I borrowed a friend’s dress for my prom. So, of course, Joyful Hearts, along with the other incredible causes KBF has supported will always hold a special place in my heart.
A few years after the Kyle Busch Foundation was established, our personal lives took a big turn when Kyle and I were struggling to conceive a child of our own and had no choice but to enter the path of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in order to have kids. In 2014, we began our IVF journey, and we didn’t know it at the time, but this journey – which is one of the hardest things we’ve had to go through – would become a total life-changing experience for our family.
I battled with myself for a long time, trying to decide if I should share our difficult path to parenthood. I spent so many months being embarrassed, depressed and scared, and then ultimately found out I had a condition that was causing our difficulties in getting pregnant. Struggling with fertility is something many women of all ages go through, but fertility treatment was a path I had never anticipated. It was scary, frustrating, and heartbreaking… and so many other emotions I never thought I would experience.
While I realize I’m not the first person to go through this, it was important for me to share my story – raw and real – if only to be a point of reference for anyone else experiencing infertility so they don’t feel alone like I did so many times. The outpouring of love and support both Kyle and I received through all of this was (and still remains!) truly incredible and we are extremely thankful.
During my pregnancy with Brexton, we started the ‘Bundle of Joy Fund’ as an initiative of the Kyle Busch Foundation to help alleviate the financial burden couples are faced with during fertility treatments, because we realized firsthand the extremely high out-of-pocket costs ($20,000+) that come with IVF as many health insurance plans don’t cover it. Putting aside my deep frustrations with that fact that there should be coverage options for IVF (more on that later), the relationships we were building through the fund ended up making a significant impact on our life. From the very first grants we were able to offer when Brexton was just a few months old to the many, many more we are working hard to award in the future, Kyle, Brexton and I get to watch our ‘Bundle of Joy’ family grow with so many wonderful couples, and that truly fills our hearts with so much happiness.
Our own infertility journey – the highs and the lows – and hearing stories from others who are also struggling to conceive, has fueled our passion to help individuals bring their own bundle of joy into the world more than ever. And because of that, Kyle and I have made the decision to make IVF awareness and support the sole mission for our foundation, which will now be The Samantha and Kyle Busch Bundle of Joy Fund. Going forward, all funds raised will support our new mission:
The Samantha and Kyle Busch Bundle of Joy Fund is dedicated to advocating for infertility education and awareness and removing the financial barriers by granting monetary awards to couples who require fertility treatments to have their own bundle of joy.
This past December, our Bundle of Joy Fund awarded its largest grant offering to-date of over $100,000 to six couples to help cover the cost of respective in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments at the Reproductive Endocrinology Associates of Charlotte (REACH). I am proud to say that since 2015, we’ve now helped 37 couples overcome the financial burden of fertility treatments with nearly $500,000 awarded. We now have 16 Bundle of Joy babies with five more due in 2019.
Our goal this year is to drive awareness on a massive scale to reinforce the importance of IVF coverage, while reaching $1 million in donations and expanding the Samantha and Kyle Busch Bundle of Joy Fund grant program footprint to new markets outside of the Charlotte area so we can help more couples.
Kyle and I strongly believe that every journey to parenthood is unique and everyone deserves a chance to try and have their own bundle of joy without worrying about the cost or judgement.
As always, thank you so much for your continued love and support.
To learn more about the Samantha and Kyle Busch Bundle of Joy Fund, please visit bundleofjoyfund.org, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.