Celebrating the life and legacy of Hunter J. Biermeier 
through the
Hugs From Hunter Foundation

Hugs From Hunter Foundation began when two children saw a need to comfort other children after the death of their beloved cousin and friend, Hunter J. Biermeier. The organization was founded in 2012 to comfort hospitalized children and their siblings. To carry on Hunters legacy of making kids smile, Hugs From Hunter Foundation provides teddy bears and security blankets to children in crisis.
Hugs From Hunter Foundation has donated over 8,000 teddy bears and blankets. Learn how you can help!

About Hunter J. Biermeier​

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Twelve year old Hunter Biermeier had a fun-loving, contagious personality and smile. He was best known for his love of sports and also excelled academically. Hunter had a strong faith in God and Jesus as his savior and declared this through believer's baptism in October 2011. One of Hunter's goals was to visit children in the hospital and read to them. He loved to make people smile. Hunter's life was cut short by an accident in November, 2011.

To fulfill Hunter's desire to make children smile; the Hugs from Hunter Foundation was created. Our mission is to provide comfort to children in crisis. We provide children a cuddly teddy bear and a security blanket to comfort them during difficult times. In February of 2012 we began donating bears and blankets to the Gundersen Health System, a Children's Miracle Network Hospital, along with Tri-State Ambulance and MedLink AIR in La Crosse, WI, on a continuous basis.  

Beginning in June, 2013, we expanded to Hunter's hometown of Rochester, MN. We delivered bears and blankets to the Ronald McDonald House and Mayo Clinic Pediatric Cardiac ICU. 

In 2014 we added the Sojourner Shelter in the Twin Cities. The shelter is a secure and temporary residence for women and their children who are unsafe in their own home.  Every child admitted to the shelter receives a teddy bear and blanket. We also provide teddy bears and blankets to Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, MN.
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In addition to providing comfort to children in crisis our co-founders saw an opportunity for others to "pay it forward" by raising money or tying blankets. Our initial acts of kindness of delivering bears and blankets had an amazing ripple effect and fostered our mission statement, Kids Helping Kids.