Babies Need Incredible Care and You!

In case you missed it we kicked off the major emphasis project two weeks ago and the response has been amazing.  Our Speaker that day was Brendan McCarthy who has had two premature babies. Brendan told about his son and daughter and the incredible care they received from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Kennestone Hospital. NICU does incredible work but they could use our assistance. The goal of The Babies Need Incredible Care and You project is to raise enough money to provide two resources that are of utmost importance to the families who unexpectedly require the services of  NICU. The resources are as follows:
 
Comfort Bags - Inside the attractive canvas bags (which by the way have the Kiwanis International Logo in the side) are resources that will help families who unexpectedly find themselves at NICU.  Included is the definitive book on premature babies entitled "Preemies: The Essential Guide for Parents of Premature Babies", a writing journal and pen, as well as a disposable camera so parents  can take pictures of their newborn. Brendan shared with us at the meeting two weeks ago how critical these items are for families who unexpectedly find themselves at NICU. The good news is that this part of the project is complete. Thanks to a generous donation by the  Business and Public Affairs committee and the late Dr. Robert Lipson, $12,000 was raised so this aspect of the project is complete. Thank you very much!

Recliner Rockers - Of critical importance to premature babies is something called Kangaroo Care in which the baby is held in a reclined position on the chest of the parent or family member. Studies show that Kangaroo Care has a major, positive impact on babies an their parents. Recliner rockers are needed to accomplish this care. There are currently 32 beds in the NICU unit and only 2 rockers. Our goal is to provide a rocker for every bed. Thanks to the hard work of Nancy Chalmers (interior decorator extraordinaire) we have negotiated a price including delivery of about $500 per rocker. So we need to raise approximately $15,000 to purchase the chairs.
 
Here is where you come in.  At the kickoff meeting we had members stand and commit funds to this project. Their response was amazing. After two weeks we have raised approximately $11,500. Thanks to all who have contributed but, we need another  $3,500 to reach our goal. If you can find it in your heart please contribute to this project by simply letting Pat Huey know that you would like to participate. You can ask her to bill your account or you can write a check. Any amount will be greatly appreciated.  I have no doubt that we can complete this project this week. Please contact Pat by email (phuey@mindspring.com) or let her know on Thursday that you would like to participate.
 
As I said when we kicked off this project....This is an incredible project.........This is an incredible club.........and we will accomplish our goal!  Let's do it sooner rather than later so we can order the bags and the chairs and start helping families who are at this very moment attempting to cope with the care of their premature baby.
 
Thank you in advance for your support.
 

 

Last Updated - Thursday, April 03, 2008 at 07:58 AM