Jaiden Lyndi Tlapa, a 3rd grader from Milford, was critically injured in an accident at her home on Dec. 20, 2007. Her parents established a charitable foundation, “Jaiden’s Angel”, in her memory. (Photo courtesy of Holleigh Tlapa)

For Milford’s Holleigh and Paul Tlapa, the world changed one snowy afternoon last winter just before Christmas, when an accident with a snow-blower critically injured their eight-year-old daughter Jaiden.

Before Jaiden succumbed to her injuries, the Tlapas spent the next three weeks uninterrupted by their daughter’s bedside at Children’s Hospital in Boston – time they say would not have been possible without the support, prayers and gifts of friends and strangers both near and far.

It is a comfort the Tlapas now try and provide to other families facing similar needs.

“We saw at the hospital a lot of people who didn’t get the kind of support and assistance we received,” Holleigh Tlapa says, her eyes welling up. “We want those people to know there is someone there who cares about them.”

This past spring, the Tlapas launched the Jaiden’s Angel Foundation to honor their daughter’s memory. Named for the gossamer-winged figure their daughter once crafted in crayon to watch over her family’s home, that angel today looks over several other families facing their darkest hours with critically ill or injured children.

Help has come in the form of everything from financial contributions so parents could take necessary time off from work, to technical assistance with fundraising or putting together video memorials. For one family in Merrimack, whose two young children suffered from Batten Disease, a fatal neurological disorder, it was having an artist capture their children’s handprints on canvas and professionally frame and install them.

This month, the Tlapas will host a babysitting event to let parents of critically ill children go out Christmas shopping. The Souhegan Valley Boys and Girls Club in Milford, meanwhile, will host a ‘spare change’ drive and auction off drawings of angels to benefit the foundation. Anyone interested in contributing or who knows of a family in need can visit the foundation’s website (www.jaidensangel.org).

“If we weren’t doing this, I don’t think I would be getting out of bed in the morning,” Holleigh says. “We feel at times like we’re alone. But it helps us feel better making others feel like they’re not alone and keeping Jaiden’s spirit alive… She was like this light. If she would have lived, I know she would have had a tremendous impact on the universe.”