Meredith has been married to her husband Justin for 13 years and they have four children ranging in age from 11 to their latest addition, a baby girl born in February.

Rewind five years when the Beidler’s son Jackson joined the family. About 18 hours after his delivery, the Beidlers were told he was having seizures as well as a major brain bleed. Jackson’s prognosis was scary to the new parents. They were told he would face challenges his whole life.

Following a 21-day stay in the NICU, the couple was immersed with in-home therapy including physical, vision, and occupational therapy. Jackson would need these therapies weekly for most of his life, but their insurance would only cover six therapies of each type annually. Providing these necessary therapies became increasingly difficult and to say the budget was tightly squeezed is an understatement.

“I’m passionate about Family Hope Foundation’s mission because I understand firsthand how difficult it can be to find the correct therapies for your child, fight with insurance to try to get anything covered, and then ultimately come up with the money to cover what insurance won’t. Funding for these necessary therapies and services is not something that every family struggles with or even understands. But, when you’ve been through it, you see how important an organization like Family Hope Foundation is to our community.”

Meredith works as a civil litigation attorney with Smith, Haughey, Rice & Roegge. She has also worked as a prosecutor in Allegan County, and a civil litigation attorney with the Michigan Attorney General. Family Hope Foundation welcomes Meredith to the Board of Directors where she is going to channel her time and talent to serve on the Development Committee. Welcome to the team, Meredith!