We feed babies, serve families, and share stories…

Third Strand is a story of beauty from ashes. We are a 501c3 Non-Profit, located in Canyon, Texas.

Founded in 2016, after the death of Kalee Joy-Barton, Third Strand was the first, and only, organization, in the United States, to provide a safe and charitable donor milk program for families who have lost a nursing mother; to babies whose mothers are unable to breastfeed, due to cancer, and other life-threatening illness; and, to adopted newborns.

We provide up to 1,300 ounces of donor breast milk to families all across the United States at no cost to the families we are blessed to serve. Financial contributions to Third Strand help to cover all costs associated with screening, collecting, storing, and shipping donated breast milk.

Our motto is “no life circumstance, price tag, policy, or lack thereof, should ever be allowed to dictate the start to a baby’s life.”

God set us on this journey in a dark and stormy time, but His plan has displayed God’s incredible love, faithfulness, and power for the world to see. While feeding babies is our platform, our purpose is to lead others to Christ by sharing the stories of the families we encounter.

Along our journey, we found another avenue that Third Strand can serve - advocacy. Third Strand has walked alongside numerous families that find themselves in an unfamiliar territory that they might have never imagined to be in. We offer guidance, consultation, prayer, and a voice to these families.

Third Strand has consulted with dozens of hospitals across the United States, to address the need for making donor milk available to the families we serve. We have assisted in writing policy and creating procedures that afford cancer survivors the ability to feed their babies breast milk; that ensure that a grieving dad can give his baby the best start to life; and, that provide adopting families the ability to give their babies the same start to life as any other baby.

Third Strand is constantly working to lobby for charitable donor milk programs to be made available by all milk banks. Third Strand also believes that the cost of donor breast milk in the United States must be regulated, to ensure availability without compromising safety.

Third Strand was born in ashes of defeat and despair. However, the journey has been incredible, and the our story is nothing short of beautiful.