This holiday season, Nikki DeLoach is living proof of the old adage “you get what you give.” Since October 2025, the beloved Hallmark actress has been shouting from the rooftops about her Benny Bracelet, designed with Raine Jewelry to raise funds for the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA), which she credits with saving her youngest son Bennett’s life.
The “A Grand Ole Opry Christmas” star is moved every time she hears from someone who’s purchased a Benny Bracelet and, by doing so, sent a wave of love and funding to those helping seriously ill kids from around the world. But on top of that generosity, DeLoach has also been on the receiving end of her fans’ kindness. DeLoach revealed in a touching social media post on December 18 that she now has two large bowls full of friendship bracelets created for her this season, noting that every single one of them holds meaning for her.
“While some of you may see a bowl of holiday beaded bracelets that rival a tween’s arm leaving a Taylor Swift concert,” DeLoach wrote, “I see stories of caregivers, loss, grief, pain. I see stories of redemption, liberation, four years free of cancer, mothers of heart warriors and praise reports. I see each and every human soul I had the privilege of meeting and connecting with. I see people reaching for joy, purpose, meaning and love, often while navigating life’s hardest of hard.”
Nikki DeLoach’s Son Underwent First-of-Its-Kind Surgery at 5 Days Old
Inda Reid at Images by Inda @imagesbyindaIn addition to her talents as an actress, screenwriter, and rising director, DeLoach has a gift and passion for advocacy — especially for causes near and dear to her heart. Inspiration for the Benny Bracelet stemmed from DeLoach and her husband Ryan Goodell’s harrowing journey with their son Bennett, who was born with congenital heart defects that required three major surgeries as a baby, beginning when he was just five days old.
DeLoach recently told EntertainmentNow, “He had four congenital heart defects, and in the hands of any other heart surgeon, besides maybe three that I can name in this country — including Dr. Vaughn Starnes at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles — Bennett probably would not be here.”
DeLoach, who also shares 12-year-old son Hudson with Goodell, said that the first of Bennett’s surgeries was a groundbreaking procedure developed by Dr. Starnes, co-director of the Heart Institute at CHLA. She noted that rather than performing multiple surgeries right after Bennett’s birth to save his life, Dr. Starnes “figured out how to do it in one” — a huge breakthrough since heart surgeries can be so risky for newborns.
“He published that data on how he was able to save Bennett’s life in one surgery, and then sent it out to medical institutions around the country,” DeLoach marveled. “So then, when heart surgeons come across a child’s heart that looks like Bennett’s, they’ll know how to fix it.”
Nikki DeLoach Says CHLA Serves Kids From 90 Countries
GettyIn addition to funding research and resources that lead to breakthrough procedures like Bennett’s, DeLoach — who’s on CHLA’s Foundation Board of Trustees and will co-chair the nonprofit’s 125th anniversary fundraising campaign (with a goal of $1.25 billion) — told EntertainmentNow that money raised for CHLA, whether through the Benny Bracelet or direct donations, allows them to care for kids from around the world.
“We service all 50 states and 90 countries,” DeLoach said. “I could tell you so many stories — getting a patient from Colorado flown into CHLA for heart surgery, a patient in Baltimore who was diagnosed with a rare cancer and whose family uprooted to be treated by our pediatric oncologist who deals with that specific cancer. We are the only Children’s Hospital with a long COVID division. So many kids come to us from all over the country, from all over the world, because we specialize in so much.”
DeLoach told EntertainmentNow she and the women at Raine Jewelry created the Benny Bracelet — a silver or gold link chain with a delicate heart — to remind people what’s on the line and give them a way to support one of the top children’s hospitals in the U.S., noting, “We have to show up and support them because, believe me, you do not want to live in a world without these institutions. A lot of our children wouldn’t make it, they just wouldn’t.”
Bennett, now 8, is “thriving,” DeLoach said, grateful that he continues to receive regular monitoring at CHLA.
Nikki DeLoach Placed Fans’ Friendship Bracelets in Very Special Prayer Bowls
It’s not lost on DeLoach that while sharing her purpose and passion behind the Benny Bracelet, she’s been receiving others’ love through handmade bracelets.
“Thank you for caring,” she wrote in the caption of her post. “Thank you for showing up for us and yourselves. Thank you for watching our movies. Thank you for your unwavering support. Thank you for choosing JOY in the midst of your valley. This is the kind of love that changes the world and it is needed now more than ever.”
She’s even chosen where they’ll live with intention, placing them in prayer bowls made from “the pecans trees in my mom’s yard on the farm in South Georgia,” DeLoach wrote, noting that her friend Kristy Nash had them made after a storm knocked over some of the 125-year-old trees at her mom’s home.
“Just like you have prayed over me and my family,” DeLoach wrote in her post, “I will be praying over you and yours. Because that’s what we do in true community… we carry each other through the heartache and through the celebration! I’m so honored to be a part of this community.”
DeLoach currently stars in “A Grand Ole Opry Christmas,” available to stream on Hallmark+ and airing on Hallmark Channel three more times in December. The Benny Bracelet can be found here, with proceeds going to CHLA.
