How Brighten A Heart™ Came to Life
ᰔᩚ About Us
Our story
Brighten A Heart™ grew from years of simple, heartfelt giving. For more than sixteen years in New York City, founder Sabrina Miller spent her holidays creating and donating hundreds of mini floral arrangements to hospitals and nursing homes. Many were delivered through Citymeals on Wheels, a nonprofit serving New York’s homebound elderly. Volunteers and drivers brought the flowers alongside meals, small gestures that filled homes with color and hearts with warmth.
Sabrina was deeply moved by the volunteers, drivers, and staff who showed up with steady care. Those moments made one thing clear: kindness travels, and she wanted to build a nonprofit that could carry that feeling forward.
That calling deepened when my mom faced a life changing health journey. After open heart surgery and an early diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, she endured years of hospital stays and chronic nerve pain. By her side, my sister and I saw how isolating those rooms could feel, and how even one small, thoughtful gesture could lift someone’s spirits. Photo shared with my mother’s permission.
With permission to bring small, approved items to patients, Sabrina began offering flowers, cards, and simple gifts to those she met. The reactions were profound. A quiet smile, a brief laugh, or a softened expression revealed a simple truth: kindness can reach people in moments when words fall short.
From those experiences, Brighten A Heart™ was born, a nonprofit rooted in compassion, creativity, and community, dedicated to bringing gentle comfort to patients and seniors who need it most.
ᰔᩚ About Us
Where Brighten A Heart™ Begins
Brighten A Heart™ is incorporated in Nevada and registered to operate in Hawaiʻi. Our Washington State registration has been submitted and is pending approval.Brighten A Heart™ is incorporated in Nevada and registered to operate as a foreign nonprofit in Hawaiʻi and Wash
The organization’s early work will begin in Nevada, Hawaiʻi, and Washington State, each chosen with deep personal significance:
Nevada
Home to Sabrina’s sister and where Brighten A Heart™ will launch its first comfort-care programs through strong community partnerships.
Hawaiʻi
Hawaiʻi is home to Sabrina and her mother, and where much of the inspiration for this mission began. Sabrina leads Brighten A Heart’s work in both Hawaiʻi and Las Vegas, traveling between the two as programs grow.
Washington State
Washington is where Sabrina and Sheina grew up, surrounded by nature and the values of kindness, service, and connection that continue to guide this work. Much of their family still resides there today.
ᰔᩚ About Us
For Hospitals & Care Facilities
Brighten A Heart™ partners with hospitals, nursing homes, and hospice programs to deliver comfort care totes directly to your facility. Our totes are designed to be easy to distribute, low in waste, and aligned with your infection control and safety protocols. We never request patient health information, and all gifts are non clinical, uplifting items only.
Each delivery is coordinated according to your facility’s preferences and protocols, whether that means drop off with volunteer services, social work, the nurse’s station, or another designated department.
ᰔᩚ About Us
A small moment that shaped Brighten A Heart™
During my mom’s surgery in Hawaiʻi, I learned that some of her ICU nurses had young children at home. I wrote a small children’s book the year before, written to be read together, with questions that invite the child and grown up to talk and laugh as they go. I donated a box of copies to the unit so nurses and staff could take one home to share with their kids. One of my mom’s nurses read the book with her daughter and later sent this handwritten card. She had already cared for my mom with such steady kindness, and still found time to say thank you.
What stayed with me wasn’t the book itself, but what happened around it. I wrote it because I thought it would be fun for kids, especially the ones who ask a lot of questions. Watching it travel from one person to another gave a nurse and her child a quiet moment together after a long shift.
Brighten A Heart™ carries that same feeling forward. Today, our comfort care totes and Brighten A Heart Kids™ projects include small, thoughtful items created, or donated by others, including artwork, comfort items, and notes of kindness, so nurses, staff, and volunteers can place those moments of care into the hands of patients and families who may need them the most. Brighten A Heart Kids™ totes will also include an updated softcover edition of Questions for Breakfast.
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Patient Privacy & Respect
Sabrina, Sheina, and Claudia are HIPAA awareness trained and committed to honoring patient privacy and all facility policies. Our comfort care totes are delivered in a way that supports your team’s work, never adds extra burden, and respects the dignity and confidentiality of the people you serve.