Help us save babies' lives with donor human milk
Amelia was born 3 months prematurely and received donor milk from The Hearts Milk Bank in neonatal intensive care. Her parents Kay and Ross have kindly shared her amazing story to help us raise vital awareness and funds. To donate £10 text HELPBABY to 70470 or make a donation through the form below.
With your support we can help more babies
Help us reach our goal
Our life-saving service
We provide donor milk to sick premature babies in hospital neonatal intensive care units across the country. For tiny babies, it’s not just milk, it’s life. A serious condition called necrotising enterocolitis kills more babies each year than childhood leukaemia. Human milk helps prevent this condition, so if mum is not able to produce her own milk, donor milk acts like a medicine to protect the baby.
We are working as hard and fast as we can to make sure every baby who could benefit can have access to donor milk, but we need your help.
It takes heroes to make this a reality – from our incredible volunteer ‘blood bikers’ to our amazing milk donors, determined parents, brilliant healthcare professionals and wonderful supporters like you.
You can give a lifeline to a newborn baby by making a contribution to this appeal.
By donating you are doing something amazing. Thank you, from us and from the babies and families we support.
To donate by mobile text HELPBABY to 70470 to donate £10. Texts will cost the donation amount plus one standard network rate message, and you’ll be opting into hearing more from us. If you would like to donate but don’t wish to hear more from us, please text HELPBABYNOINFO.
Every donation makes a huge difference
A GIFT OF £10
Pays for one milk donor onboarding pack
A GIFT OF £20
Feeds a premature baby with donor milk for a day
A GIFT OF £50
Helps our volunteers deliver donor milk for a week
A GIFT OF £100
Recruits one new milk donor, whose milk would feed on average 20 babies
Our partnership with Black Sheep Brewery
We’re delighted that Black Sheep Brewery have chosen the HMF as their charity partner. Through this campaign, we hope to raise awareness of the impact of donor milk – for babies, mums and for dads, partners and wider family members too who play such a vital role in supporting feeding. On each bottle of Milk Stout is a special peel back label which contains more information about the work of the Human Milk Foundation and a QR code linking to this appeal. We are so grateful to them for helping us reach more families and raise vital awareness of our charity.
The SERV 'Blood Biker' Network
We couldn’t do what we do without the generosity of the SERV (Service by Emergency Response Volunteers) ‘Blood Bikers’ – an entirely volunteer led organisation that supports the delivery of emergency blood, plasma, tissue samples and donor milk by using its dedicated fleet of motorcycles and 4 x 4 vehicles. Their rapid response service enables donor milk to be transported to hospital neonatal intensive care units where it helps vulnerable premature babies.
The first group to work with Hearts, the SERV Herts and Beds were awarded The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service for 2022. This is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE for organisations such as theirs. Read more here >
If you’re interested in becoming a blood biker, click the button below to find your nearest group.
