After Losing Her Infant Son, She Built a Foundation Serving Families Around the World

It was an ordinary workday when Ashley Gooden-Stewart’s team lead clocked her out early for a family emergency.

She walked out the door, stepped a block away from the building, and waited. “I still didn’t know until hours later,” she says. “I didn’t learn all the details. I just knew CJ passed away and would never return.”

Ashley’s son, CJ Stewart, was three and a half months old. He passed away on August 6, 2015, from heat exhaustion. CJ was Ashley’s firstborn. “He was beautiful with an infectious laugh and smile,” she says. “He made an impact on all of our lives.”

What followed was grief in its full weight. Ashley stopped eating. Sleep stopped coming. She walked away from the life she had built in Austin, Texas.

Some days, exhaustion from crying left her collapsed on the floor, her body aching like she had the flu. The phone calls that flooded in after the funeral slowed to a stop. Friends grew cold and distant. People wanted the old Ashley back, but the old Ashley was in heaven with CJ.

“All I had left was God and enough strength to pray,” she says.

A few weeks after CJ’s funeral, Ashley found herself on her bathroom floor, lying in a puddle of tears. The house was still and quiet. She asked God to help her, heal her, and make her life meaningful again. What she heard back changed everything.

God instructed her to start a nonprofit.

“I called a few people, and I waited for them to help me start a nonprofit organization,” she says. “I grew impatient.” She eventually called her mentor in Austin, a man who had told her five times she was not ready.

“When I called him, he told me ‘Yes.’”

On October 1, 2015, less than two months after losing her son, The Baby Stewart Foundation became a 501(c)3.

The early days were rough in ways Ashley did not anticipate. Doors closed locally. Organizations that could have welcomed the foundation did not.

She was grieving and still showing up every single day, working her day job and then clocking out to meet families and distribute baby boxes in the evenings. All of the foundation’s services are completely mobile. Ashley delivered boxes to homes, jobs, shelters, schools, and directly to clients living on the streets.

“Although I was grieving, it was hard to not get emotional and wear my heart on my sleeve,” she says. “I was determined to work hard and build in honor of CJ.”

Within the first year, The Baby Stewart Foundation established corporate partnerships with organizations and companies across the United States.

Ashley’s mission, which started with helping families receive baby necessities and car seats, has since expanded into disaster relief, hygiene supplies, school supplies, clothing, mental health support, and bereavement care.

The foundation serves over 5,000 people each year across Galveston County and parts of Harris County. Ashley calls her volunteers Good Stewarts. “We have our Good Stewarts who take our supplies to Mexico, Nigeria, India, the Virgin Islands, and Peru,” she says.

When Louisiana faced hurricane season and Jackson, Mississippi faced a water crisis in 2022, The Baby Stewart Foundation showed up there too.

CJ never got to see any of it. And somehow, his legacy is everywhere.

Ashley is clear that her faith did not remove the pain. What it did was give the pain somewhere to go. Prayer became the thing she returned to when everything else stopped making sense.

“It was important for me to go to therapy and to step away for a while when I experienced compassion fatigue,” she says. Honoring God with her whole self, meant honoring her limits too.

For mothers who are newly bereaved, Ashley’s message is direct and unhurried.

“Please give yourself grace,” she says. “Do not be in a rush or feel pressured to heal. Trust God is with you every step of the way. You will never be the same again after losing a child. Your grief is unique as a fingerprint.”

She tells grieving mothers to find people who will pray for them, lead them to God, and sit with them.

“When all the phone calls stop, when the home visits end, and the check-ins are done, spend more time with God,” she says. “Meditate, pray, and read the word. Everyday won’t be easy but God is there no matter how hard it gets.”

Learn more about The Baby Stewart Foundation at thebabystewart.org. Follow the foundation on Facebook and Instagram and connect with Ashley on LinkedIn.