Our Mission

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Welcome to the Britten Hartnett Tyler Foundation (BHTF).

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Our mission is to surround children coping with the painful loss of a parent, sibling, or primary care giver with the ongoing emotional and financial support required to not merely survive, but to thrive.

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The BHTF is one of the only not-for-profit, publicly supported charitable organizations in the United States that is exclusively focused on supporting bereavement programs that help children who have lost a loved one. 

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Following the tragic death of Britten Tyler, her husband, Wat Tyler, and a group of close friends started the Britten Hartnett Tyler Foundation (BHTF) to honor the unwavering generosity and keen sense of empathy that Britten embodied and to pass that kind of love and healing onto other children facing the enormous challenge of life after such a significant loss. 

 

Wat will forever be grateful for the support that his entire community showed his family in the aftermath of Britten’s sudden passing. With a one-week-old daughter and a four-year-old son, the hopeless sense of loss and pain was all consuming. 

 

Wat credits the community around him and various organizations with allowing him to focus on his children and see every new day as a path forward.  In the year after his family faced such unimaginable heartbreak, Wat saw his life, his “new normal,” take shape due to the guidance and generosity of others.  These selfless acts, both large and small, were a constant reminder of his wife’s beautiful heart and soul.  Wat knew the best way to honor her, and to keep her legacy of service and support alive for their children, was to ensure these resources become more readily available for children, and their families, facing similar life shattering events.