- Details
- Written by Tom Miles Tom Miles
- Created: January 11 2016 January 11 2016
The Board of Human Needs will soon be coming to the congregation to ask for help collecting items for and assembling Baby Care Kits. The kits are a project of Lutheran World Relief, and are sent around the world to impoverished mothers. Here’s some information about the kits so you can begin preparing, stashing away useful items you might have around the house or looking for sales!
Bringing a baby into the world can be a difficult and scary thing for a mother living in poverty. She worries about her baby's health and well-being when there is a lack of money to buy the things every mother wants for her newborn. The items included in a Baby Care Kit provide the things a mother needs to care for her baby the way she hopes to—soft blankets to give warmth and comfort, soap to keep the germs away. Lack of something to dress her baby in often keeps a mother isolated from her community, but the clothes in a Baby Care Kit welcome both mother and baby out into the world.LWR Quilt & Kit Ministry Guide
Each Baby Care Kit will include:
- Two lightweight cotton T-shirts (no “onesies”)
- Two long- or short-sleeved gowns of sleepers (without feet)
- Two receiving blankets, medium-weight cotton or flannel, or crocheted or knitted with lightweight yarn, up to 52" square
- Four cloth diapers, flat-fold preferred
- One jacket, sweater, or sweatshirt with a hood or a baby cap
- Two pairs of socks
- One hand towel (dark color)
- Two bath-sized bars (4 to 5 ounces) of gentle soap, in the original wrapping
- Two diaper pins or large safety pins
The kits can contain various sizes, from six to 24 months, even within the same package, to extend the useful life of a single kit. Those who have some crafting skills might consider making blankets, gowns or diapers. You can find instructions at lwr.org/babycarekits. Sweaters may be crocheted or knitted from leftover yarn or made from heavy double knits of fleece. LWR prefers styles with “buttons or ties down the front.” They also note that “including one knitted/crocheted blanket and one flannel blanket will provide maximum versatility.”
But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.Luke 18:16
The Board of Human Needs finds opportunities for the members of Saint John’s to provide a Christian witness by helping people in the community struggling with daily necessities.