For Ellie Foundation Reaches 10-Year Milestone

“Sometimes when I am working on the For Ellie Foundation year-end report, I have a moment when I think, ‘We’ve really done a lot,’” said Severna Park resident Ashleigh Wyble.

The For Ellie Foundation was established in October 2016 following the sudden death of her 86-day-old daughter, Ellie Elizabeth Wyble, in August 2016.

“The 10-year milestone this year hit me hard - harder than I expected. I took some time to grieve, but I quickly remembered that we’ve got more work to do, more people to help,” Wyble shared.

The hours leading up to Ellie’s passing were filled with a flurry of activity during which Ashleigh could not focus on anything other than her daughter. She had no time or mental capacity to think about what she should grab before racing to the emergency room at Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC). Luckily for the Wyble family, and for so many other families during a pediatric medical crisis, the pediatric intensive care staff was trained to support not only the child in their care, but their parents, guardians and even siblings.

Just days after leaving the hospital without their daughter, Ashleigh and her husband Matt Wyble looked for a way to thank the staff for their professional expertise and personal kindness. Learning more about what the child life specialists need, the Wybles collected donations for these angels in scrubs.

“We so appreciated the pediatric care staff, and we wanted to somehow help them be a bright spot in another family’s very dark place,” Wyble said. “Our family’s community was so overwhelmingly supportive of us in our grief. Donations of all kinds kept coming. Matt and I really felt that our experience was pointing us toward establishing a foundation to keep this going, and the For Ellie Foundation was created.”

In the past 10 years, the For Ellie Foundation has taken in more than $400,000 through donations and events, including cornhole, golf and pickleball tournaments, and online raffles, and has funded projects that support families in a medical crisis or in grief.

The For Ellie Foundation has donated to and worked with local medical centers and community service organizations over the last decade as well.

The foundation’s first official act was to establish the children’s garden at the Woods Counseling and Care Center, dubbed Ellie’s Moonflower Garden. The garden serves as an outdoor sanctuary for anyone looking for a safe place for reflection or prayer and is always open to the public. The garden is planted adjacent to Woods Church’s labyrinth, which Ellie’s great-grandparents helped design for the community.

Ellie’s Cart of Hope soon became a cornerstone of the foundation’s work. These specialized mobile carts, offered at Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center and the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center (UM BWMC), are used by hospital child life specialists to provide patients with fun activities and therapy aids during treatments.

Through Hope Totes, an extension of Ellie’s Cart of Hope, the For Ellie Foundation fills tote bags with the simple comforts a family may need during the initial hours of a crisis, including a blanket, toiletries not supplied by the hospital, fresh snacks and more. To date, more than 2,400 Hope Totes have been delivered to AAMC and UM BWMC.

The foundation has also supported a book series and a short film on grief, donated backpacks full of school supplies to Anne Arundel County students, helped parents with funeral expenses, provided community service projects for local children and more.

“Many of our initiatives hope to positively impact the patient and parent experience during their hospital stay,” Wyble said. “We really hope to make things just a little easier when dealing with the unexpected and scary.”

The Wybles plan to add age-appropriate initiatives that align with the grade in which Ellie would be enrolled today. As such, the 2026-2027 school year will include a focus on literacy and age-specific grief resources.

Ellie, the middle sibling between brothers Luke and Cooper, would be in fifth grade at Severna Park Elementary School. Luke is old enough to remember her smile, the twinkle in her blue eyes, and her coos when he held her. Cooper never met his big sister, but he talks about her in present tense, because she’s always with her family.

Ashleigh and Matt don’t want their grief to be the only chapter in their story. They know there will be bad days, but by keeping their daughter’s spirit alive through kindness and her foundation, their family heals a little bit every day.

The For Ellie Foundation is a nonprofit organization. For more information visit www.forellie.org.