On a Mission to Serve Kids in Foster Care

From the beginning, we set out a goal to help rescue as many kids at risk as possible, but the execution wasn’t always a clear path.

When we first started planting lavender fields, we never would have imagined they would become a source of peace and solace for our soon-to-be grandson, Xander, when he came into our lives as a 2-year-old from the foster care system. Through Xander, we learned about the trauma that children in the system often times have to live with.

One day, once the idea for the lavender-filled bunnies was finalized and the first one was made, we gave it to Xander and put him in a tub of cherry pits and lavender so he could fill it up himself–it was the calmest we had ever seen Xander, who’d been through so much in his young life. Our daughter–Xander’s mom–said that night he slept better than ever before with that little bunny tucked under his arm. We realized the bunny was the constant that he needed and, in turn, a source of calmness; after that they became inseparable and we decided to name the bunny “Xander” in his honor.

That was the beginning of our journey sharing our message: “You are Loved and Never Alone”, and the Xander Bunny was at the forefront of it, helping us relay that feeling to reach as many foster kids as we possibly could.

Nowadays we regularly receive calls from therapists and psychologists who use Xander Bunny in their practice with kids because of the calming effect it provides.

What started as a small project in my tiny sewing room with just a few employees and high-risk teens from the downtown City Center has now become a fully operational mission with 40 sets of loving hands that meticulously assemble every Xander Bunny right here at our farm in Caledonia, Michigan.

You’ve made it possible for us to give 25.000 bunnies to children in foster care all over the country in less than two years and, for that, we are incredibly grateful; but with 440.000 children in the foster care system, we’ve got tons of work ahead of us and a lot of kids to reach, and we wouldn’t be able to do it without you!

Thank you for turning our Vision into a Movement!

With Grateful Hearts,

Vic and Vickie Bennett.