How faith, resilience, and legacy became the foundation of our mission.
1. Finding Purpose After Loss
After losing Erik in 2008, I found myself searching for purpose again. I felt lost and deeply in need of God’s direction. As a widow, I wrestled with how to take such a devastating, life-altering tragedy and transform it into something meaningful—something that could bring peace, intention, and a renewed reason to live.
At the same time, I carried the responsibility of raising my one-year-old daughter. I knew I wanted to teach her that no matter what life brings, we choose to respond with strength, integrity, and faith. That we do what is right for the right reasons, honor God in our decisions, and never allow hardship to define the future we build.
I was grieving, but not destroyed. At times, I felt lost, but never without purpose. Even in the pain, I was determined to build a life rooted in faith, resilience, and hope.
2. The Birth of the Foundation
One year after losing Erik, the Erik Hite Foundation was created from a desire to turn pain into purpose and build something meaningful through faith, resilience, and hope.
As a young widow raising a child on my own, I understood firsthand the challenges public safety and military families face while balancing grief, work, healing, and family life. I knew how important it was to have support systems that truly understood those realities.
The Child Development Center became the foundation’s first major program and the beginning of our mission in action. It was created to provide public safety employees and active military families with the kind of safe, supportive, and dependable care I knew families needed during difficult seasons of life.
3. Carrying the Legacy Forward
My daughter Sam, is now almost 19 years old, is stepping into this next chapter of her life with courage, determination, and a heart full of purpose. Watching her grow into the young woman she is today has been one of the greatest blessings of my life, especially knowing the journey she has walked to get here.
She carries her father’s legacy with her in everything she does. With a deep desire to follow in his footsteps, she is pursuing a career in Criminal Justice—not only as a goal, but as a calling. In this path, she continues to honor his life in the most meaningful way.
She lives with purpose, integrity, and intention, and through it all, she holds tightly to her faith and hope. Even without him by her side, his presence is reflected in her strength, her character, and the way she chooses to live her life every single day.
