BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, one in eight couples across the country are impacted by infertility.

During the last week in April each year falls National Infertility Awareness Week. One local group is now doing its part to bring awareness to those living with infertility.

Mallory Wear, executive director of CARRYWELL, said that the organization started as a small group of women who came together to share similar experiences, and support each other through seasons of infertility and loss. 

“During that time, we really realized how much healing was being created in us just from being in a community of those that can understand what we’re going through,” said Wear.

And that’s how CARRYWELL, formally Blessed Brokeness, was born. 

“CARRYWELL’s mission is to carry one another through seasons of infertility and loss. And one of the ways that we love to do that is by helping change our perspective,” Wear said. “So often, when we’re walking through this season, we can focus on what the world says and the diagnoses of the world, but really to shift that perspective to the eternal and know that when we do that, we can really find peace in the midst of the storm.”

Wear believes the subject of infertility is talked about a lot more these days. 

“When I was going through infertility and experienced a loss about five years ago, no one was really sharing their story,” she said. “Now you see more individuals sharing, you see groups, and then also celebrities are talking about it, which always drums up a lot more opportunities to become vulnerable.”

For this week, CARRYWELL is selling orange mailbox awareness bows through CARRYWELL.org.

“I think it takes us as a community to really start supporting this topic in letting people know that, ‘hey, we see you, we understand you.’ One way CARRYWELL’s doing that this week is through our orange bows that you’ll see on retailers, stores, on restaurants, and on individual mailboxes,” Wear said.

At the end of the week, CARRYWELL will host its annual Backyard Bash fundraiser to “celebrate this ministry, and also those walking through it (infertility) and to raise awareness with the greater community,” said Wear.

The fundraiser will be held at Back Forty Brewery on April 30 from 1 to 3 p.m. April 30. It will cost adults $5. There will be live music and face painting for kids.

For more information on CARRYWELL, you can click here. Those who want to become involved in the ministry, Wear suggests joining the group’s newsletter.