What Makes Us Different
What makes Mrs. Claus With A Cause different is not just what we provide — it’s how and when we show up.
Many organizations focus on long-term recovery or clinical services after a crisis occurs. We focus on the emotional needs of children and families in the immediate and deeply personal moments surrounding trauma, medical crisis, disaster, and the anticipated loss of a parent or guardian.
Our approach is relationship-centered, trauma-informed, and intentionally human.
We understand that comfort can look different for every child. Sometimes it’s a stuffed animal after a house fire. Sometimes it’s creating meaningful memories with a seriously ill parent. Sometimes it’s helping a caregiver feel supported while carrying the impossible weight of anticipatory loss.
We work alongside hospitals, hospice organizations, first responders, schools, and community agencies to provide compassionate emotional support that complements — not replaces — the critical work they already do.
At the heart of everything we do is a simple belief: small moments of comfort, connection, and presence can have a lasting impact on how a child experiences and remembers crisis.
Our Story
Mrs. Claus With A Cause began with one simple realization: children in crisis often remember the smallest acts of comfort long after the emergency itself has passed.
What started as community visits and acts of kindness through the spirit of Mrs. Claus slowly revealed a deeper need. Families facing medical trauma, house fires, disasters, and the anticipated loss of a parent or guardian were often surrounded by professionals focused on urgent physical needs — but emotional support for children was harder to find in those first overwhelming moments.
Again and again, we saw the same thing: a child needing comfort, a caregiver trying to stay strong, and families carrying emotional burdens no one could see.
So we decided to build something different.
Mrs. Claus With A Cause was created to bring warmth, comfort, and human connection into some of life’s hardest moments — not just through resources, but through presence. Through comfort kits, caregiver support, memory-making experiences, and compassionate partnerships, we help children and families feel seen, supported, and less alone.
Because sometimes the smallest moments of kindness become the moments a child remembers forever.
Leadership & Board
Amy Herrmann, Executive Director
Founder of Mrs. Claus With A Cause, leading trauma-informed emotional support efforts for children and families experiencing crisis.
Tiffany Royall Toombs, LPC — Board Secretary
Licensed professional counselor bringing clinical expertise in trauma-informed care and emotional support for children and families.
Elaine Wilson — Board Treasurer
Brings over 20 years of experience in financial oversight and accountability across nonprofit organizations, ensuring responsible stewardship and transparency.
Jake Shope, MSW — Board Member
Lead clinician at Richmond Behavioral Health Authority’s crisis stabilization unit, bringing direct experience supporting children and families during acute crisis situations.
Mary Ann O'Conner, RN — Medical Advisor
Provides medical insight and guidance to support children and families navigating serious health challenges.
Our Approach
We believe emotional support should not be an afterthought during crisis.
Children experiencing medical trauma, disaster, displacement, or the anticipated loss of a parent or guardian often struggle to process overwhelming change while the adults around them focus on urgent practical needs. In these moments, small acts of comfort, stability, and connection can have a profound emotional impact.
Our approach is trauma-informed, relationship-centered, and built around the unique emotional needs of children and families navigating crisis.
Rather than offering one-time acts of kindness alone, we focus on creating meaningful moments of comfort and connection through emotional support, comfort resources, caregiver support, memory-making experiences, and collaborative community partnerships.
We work alongside hospitals, hospice organizations, first responders, schools, and community agencies to complement existing care systems — helping ensure children and families feel seen, supported, and less alone during some of life’s most difficult moments.
About Mrs. Claus with a Cause
Through my work as a social worker, I saw the same painful reality repeat itself: when a child experiences crisis, trauma, or the anticipatory loss of a parent or caregiver, their emotional needs are often overlooked in the rush to manage the emergency itself.
Families facing house fires, life-threatening illness, medical crisis, or the impending loss of a loved one are suddenly thrown into survival mode. In those moments, the focus is understandably placed on immediate safety, treatment plans, logistics, and practical needs. But children are often left trying to process fear, uncertainty, and overwhelming emotions without the support they need to fully understand what is happening around them.
Mrs. Claus With A Cause was created to help fill that gap.
What began as a desire to bring comfort to children grew into a trauma-informed nonprofit focused on providing emotional support during some of the hardest moments a family can face. Through comfort kits, memory-making experiences, caregiver support, and compassionate presence, we help children feel seen, safe, and supported when their world feels uncertain.
The character of Mrs. Claus is intentional. For many children, Mrs. Claus represents warmth, gentleness, familiarity, and unconditional care. She creates an immediate sense of emotional safety that can help lower fear and anxiety during difficult situations. Behind the red suit is a very real mission: showing up for children and families with compassion, dignity, and consistency during moments that can feel overwhelming and isolating.
Today, we work alongside first responders, hospice teams, hospitals, schools, and community agencies to provide emotional support that extends beyond the initial crisis. Because while emergencies and diagnoses may happen in a moment, the emotional impact on a child can last far longer.
We believe every child deserves comfort, connection, and moments of light — even in the middle of uncertainty.
Annual Report
Call to Action
Join us in bringing comfort to children when they need it most.
Want to help us place comfort directly into the hands of a child?
👉 Provide a Comfort Kit
$45 provides one Comfort Kit.
How We Help
In the moments after a crisis, everything changes.
Adults move into problem-solving mode.
Children are left trying to make sense of fear, confusion, and loss—often without support in the moment they need it most.
That gap matters.
Because children don’t process crisis the way adults do. And when no one meets them where they are, they carry it alone.
That’s where we come in.
We provide immediate, trauma-informed emotional support through a calm, familiar presence—helping children feel safe, seen, and less alone.
But what matters most isn’t what we bring—it’s how we show up.
Each visit includes simple, grounding tools from a Comfort Care Kit—designed to help children regulate, reconnect, and begin processing what they’re experiencing.
Children don’t respond to pressure in moments of crisis.
They respond to what feels safe. Recognizable. Non-threatening.
That connection opens the door.
Sometimes it looks like talking.
Sometimes it doesn’t.
But it creates a moment where a child doesn’t have to carry it alone.
Whether in a home, hospital room, or shelter, we meet each child where they are—offering comfort in the moment and a path forward.