ABOUT US

What is the meaning of G.R.A.C.E.?
Mission of Missing GRACE
Goals of the Foundation
History

THE MEANING OF G.R.A.C.E

Grace McVicar was stillborn on December 20, 2001. She was the first-born child of Candy and Stephen McVicar. It was through their grieving and feelings of missing their daughter and missing the chance to hold, love and raise their baby Grace, that the inspiration for the name “Missing GRACE” was realized.
Additionally, the name is an acronym with a meaning which is central to the heart of the mission of Missing GRACE Foundation. It stands for:
Grieve, Restore, Arise, Commemorate and Educate.

Missing GRACE Foundation provides help to:

1. Grieve in healthy ways by giving comfort, support, resources and opportunities to grieve together
2. Restore holistically in a person’s emotional, relational, physical and spiritual health
3. Arise from the ashes – the dark place of deep sorrow and receive hope for a brighter day
4. Commemorate loved ones in heaven – validating the significance of each life
5. Educate through providing literature, classes, community outreach programs and events

OUR MISSION

Missing GRACE Foundation’s mission is to provide support, resources and education for families and professional care providers when there is loss of a baby, infertility or adoption challenges. We offer hope and healing opportunities to G.R.A.C.E. – Grieve, Restore, Arise, Commemorate and Educate.

OUR GOALS

To be healing hands of GRACE that:

• love and support families in their grief journey so they can heal and have hope for a brighter day.
• affirm each baby’s life matters no matter how brief a time they were here.
• create a safe place for the bereaved to experience community with others who understand.
• advocate for mothers to receive care that will improve good outcomes.
• build awareness about ways to prevent miscarriage and stillbirth.
• help educate hospital staff in the best practices of care for patients who experience a perinatal loss.
• guide mothers in a holistic health approach to healing their bodies from trauma and grief.

OUR HISTORY

In 2002, Candy and Stephen McVicar founded Missing GRACE after the umbilical cord related stillbirth of their firstborn daughter Grace. The McVicars started Missing GRACE with the desire to support families who had experienced a pregnancy or infant loss and a passion to educate, raise awareness and further the research of stillbirth and its prevention.

Shortly after its inception, the organization began offering online support groups, support group meetings and GRACE Care Baskets that were given to comfort and help newly grieving parents in the hospital at the time their baby died.

In addition to delivering the GRACE Care Baskets to hospitals, Candy, began serving the hospitals on-call as a patient advocate and grief support person for parents delivering a miscarried, stillborn or neonate baby with a poor diagnosis. She offered birth support, professional photography, live video filming, memorial service planning and home visits with follow-up care. Stephen compiled the photos and videos and created a Memorial DVD for the parents to have as a treasured keepsake. There was high demand for these specialty services and Candy grew the program through a partnership with a Minnesota hospital, which assisted in the recruitment and training process for what became the Missing GRACE Crisis Care Team. The team grew to have 24 volunteers who served throughout Minnesota and the Mid-west five-state region. As news spread, more hospitals requested the services in other states. Bereaved parent volunteers were trained to begin providing Missing GRACE Crisis Care Team services in their local hospitals and to facilitate GRACE Support Groups in their communities. Services have been offered in Texas, New Mexico, Kentucky and Missouri.

Missing GRACE hosted seven national conferences annually in Minnesota for bereaved, infertile and adoptive families. The conferences also had a medical track and provided CEUs/CMEs for Care Professionals. 

In 2003, Candy ventured out to the Capital in St. Paul, Minnesota with the mission to help parents of a stillborn receive their baby’s birth certificate. Through the hard work of Candy together with volunteers (also parents to stillborn babies) and the collaborative bipartisan efforts, the bill received incredible legislative support and unanimous votes in both the House and Senate Health committees as well as on the floor of both House and Senate. This was a true coming together by the Minnesota legislature for an excellent and worthy cause. The bill was signed into law and enacted August 1, 2005. Parents have shared that receiving their certificates has brought rightful recognition and dignity to their baby and peace and comfort to their hearts.

In September 2005, the first Kaila & Grace's Hope & Hearts Run was held at Lake Harriet. The beautiful memorial event for babies and children and benefit for Missing GRACE has been held every fall since, and includes a 5K timed run, memorial walk, kids fun dash and remembrance ceremony. The event helps to raise awareness about pregnancy loss and stillbirth prevention. Now called the Minnesota Hope & Hearts Run/Walk, the event draws bereaved families from all over Minnesota and other Midwest states. Hope & Hearts events have been held in Texas in memory of Payton, in New Mexico in memory of Blakey, and in Kentucky in memory of Gracie.

The Organization became Missing GRACE Foundation (MGF) at the time of receiving status as a 501 (c) (3) Nonprofit in June 2006.

In 2010, They Were Stillborn – Personal Stories About Stillbirth a beautiful collection of essays compiled and edited by Janel Atlas was published which included a contribution by Candy.

Missing GRACE was operated out of Candy and Stephen’s home for many years along with several storage units and two churches for meetings and events. As the needs grew, a vision developed for a space a special gathering place for bereaved, infertile and adoptive families and distribution center for Care Baskets.

The vision became a reality, thanks to the incredible support of individual donors, a large grant from Home Depot and Best Buy, and the generous donated supplies and incredible volunteerism of local businesses. The Center for GRACE opened its doors to the public in Rogers, Minnesota in June of 2011.

The Center for GRACE had a specialty gift shop with beautiful memorial gifts, rainbow baby items, books, garden stones, jewelry, clothing, customized items, and home decor, as well as a meeting rooms, library, counseling center, castle play area for children, Care Basket distribution, and the MGF headquarters office.

 

2020, Candy co-authored a book with Dr. Gary Chapman titled, "The 5 Love Languages® for Grieving Parents: Holding on to Love After You've Lost a Baby."

 

2022, Missing GRACE opened an office in South Carolina. Pastoral care services began to be offered by Pastor Stephen McVicar for grieving dads and couples on Zoom and in-person.

 

2023, GRACE Care Packages (formerly called the GRACE Care Baskets and Totes) were updated to include all new bereavement literature in the GRACE Resource Folder, and the additions of the "Tailor-Made" and "Solace" Packages. The Center for GRACE was closed and the headquarter office was moved to a new location in Rogers, MN and GRACE Care Package distribution center relocated to Mora, MN.