For parents with children in critical condition, the hospital experience can be an exceptionally difficult one with which to grapple. Between visits and treatments to mitigate serious illnesses, along with costs of medication and facing the terrible reality of a child's diagnosis, the large amount of stress can be physically, mentally, and financially taxing.

This was the case for North Haven’s Jeff Dorman and his wife Samantha, whose three-year-old daughter Harper was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2022.

As a result of their experience, Jeff and Samantha formed the nonprofit Feeding Families Foundation. According to its website, the mission of the nonprofit is to “eliminate hospital food insecurity and alleviate some financial burden for parents so they can go back to what matters most—caring for their child.”

This is achieved through the foundation’s Parent Plate Program, which Jeff says is aiming to provide at least one free meal per day for the parents.

As for Harper, Jeff says she is currently doing well. Her leukemia is in remission, and she is now in the latter half of the maintenance stage of daily at-home chemotherapy sessions. Before Harper reached this milestone, Jeff remembers the intensely stressful experience of being with her in the hospital. On top of the difficulty of grappling with his daughter’s diagnosis, the surrounding environment was not easy to deal with either.

“You're on a children's floor, so you've got other kids in other rooms crying, you got the pumps beeping incessantly. The beds aren't really that comfortable to sleep on,” says Jeff. “It's just a very tough environment to be in. It's just that constant vigilance. It's constantly being on edge. It's constant stress.”

During trying times like these, parents may tend to forgo their own health, including skipping meals, out of a refusal to not be with their children during visits.

Jeff can definitely attest to this.

“There was no way I was going to leave Harper’s side,” Jeff says. “I wasn't going to leave the building to go across the street to the Ronald McDonald House or leave her room and pick up Grubhub or DoorDash. There was just no way.”

Jeff explains that under the pilot Parent Plate Program, which currently operates at Yale North Haven Medical Center, “We set up an account under the Yale umbrella. That way, when folks do call, it utilizes the existing hospital food service infrastructure.”

“It's just the same: Call up a tray for your child, add one of yourself, it gets delivered to the room with your child's tray,” he adds. “All the logistics are the same—all the food service—but it's just paid for by us. And the fund under the Yale umbrella allows them to draw down on that.”

Jeff describes the process as “seamless” and one where “we're not adding up a bill and getting invoiced month over month.”

“We fund this account, and it's able to come off of that,” says Jeff.

No financial proof is required for those who use the program, given the foundation’s belief that all parents deserve this kind support when with their hospitalized child.

Along with shaving extra dollars from hospital bills, the process of providing cost-free meals is also a safety matter for parents and children.

Jeff recalls that during his stays with his daughter, “When Harper started eating food off of her tray, the minute her saliva touched the food, it was contaminated.”

However, by not leaving parents to eat their child’s leftovers and lessening the cost of a meal, the program can keep them safe as they continue to be at their child’s side, thus alleviating some of the stress for those parents.

“The response we've had from the community has been, honestly, absolutely incredible and significantly greater and more positive than I thought it could have been and would have been. It's sort of a wild thing,” Jeff says.

While the Parent Plate Program operates solely at Yale’s chapter in North Haven as of now, Jeff says that hospitals in other states have recognized what the program provides for families and their children. In response, the Feeding Families Foundation is looking to expand its scope to other hospitals across Connecticut, including Connecticut Children’s Hospital in Hartford, in the future.

“Other hospitals around the country have similar issues with food insecurity,” says Jeff. “We have been contacted already by children's hospitals in other states…Folks in the hospital are going to be relying on this. I know I would be if I were when and if I ever get admitted again with Harper.”

Jeff says the foundation has “set our sights” on increasing the number of meals from one a day to multiple, “as well as expanding this into the pediatric intensive care unit” of hospitals to serve children with all forms of critical conditions.

To donate to the Feeding Families Foundation, visit https://feedingfamiliesfoundation.org/.