Bringing Some Merry to the Mommies

1/12/2015

Our NICU Service Project Review

This year, Iowa Medical Partners donated care packages to mothers on bed-rest due to high-risk pregnancy, and mothers of infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the University of Iowa Hospital. These bags were filled with a few items for the baby, and items for the moms- nail polish, socks, lip-gloss, etc. We filled these bags with donations from various businesses from around the country, as well as internationally! Iowa Medical Partners members also donated items and spent many hours hand making items to put inside. We hope that these bags will be a reminder to these mothers that they haven't been forgotten, and will help them get through the long days and nights ahead with a little more hope than they had yesterday.

The members of Iowa Medical Partners did so much to see this project through. We had a big Saturday event where we made cards for the bags and sewed and tied blankets. It was so fun to get our hands dirty and put our hearts into the project.

4Moms sent us a truck load of Mamaroos and we were blown away! They were delivered a little earlier than we were expecting so there was a mad dash to get them out of the loading bay at Emily's work (Thank You South Slope for allowing us to use your loading dock). The site of floor to ceiling Mamaroos was breathtaking. Thank you 4Moms!

On top of the generosity of 4Moms, we had amazing companies from all over the world donating items to our project. We received adorable onesies, cute blankets, the most precious knit hats (Ali's mom and our member Jamie made sure that each baby got at least one), fun scarves for the moms, beautiful hand stamped Mom necklaces, boutique style bags, and so many other things that made this project complete. We were so blown away by the generosity of the companies that donated. Everyone we talked to was so supportive and went out of their way to help us reach our goals. There is a list of every company that donated as well as a link to their shop if you would like to check them out and shop for yourselves.

Our goal was to make 85 of these filled bags for these mothers and we reached that goal! We hoped to raise at least $1,500, and we blew that out of the water with our total donations received reaching $1,730. We used the money to purchase any items for the bags that we were short on, gift cards to the Java House and hospital cafeteria, and gas gift cards.

This project received some amazing publicity. It was so neat to see our project in the paper and on the news. Here are some of the news paper clippings and the news coverage from KCRG in Iowa City.

Time seemed to fly up to the delivery day for this project. We couldn't believe when it was time to load up the truck and head to the hospital. We had some wonderful members who came and helped us load up all of those Mamaroos and a bag for each family. Not to mention the Boppy pillows and covers for the NICU and the Bumbo for the NICU. Because we had so much help we had the truck all loaded in less than an hour. Then the evening of the 23rd Ali and Ashley jumped in the Uhaul to make the delivery. We had so much help from the nursing staff and our members when it came to unloading the truck. We set up the room and got ready for the families.

Getting to talk with the families in the NICU and hearing about their beautiful babies was the best part of this project. Letting these families know that we care and that we want them to have a happy holiday even though they are in a not so happy situation was a great way to kick off Christmas for us. We heard over and over again how grateful everyone was for this project and for all of the hard work that went into it. This project started as just an idea and turned into an act of love, sleepless nights, tears (of gratitude from the overwhelming response), and hope for these families.

We want to extend a HUGE thank you to all of our donors. This project happened because of you and your willingness to help these families. Thank you to the members of Iowa Medical Partners for donating items for the bags and your time and skills to this project. You all helped in so many ways! Thank you to our donors on our Fundly page. Your donations helped us complete this project and helped support these families in countless ways. This project went above and beyond what we ever hoped it would be and we just cannot say thank you enough. We are so excited for next year, to be able to bring some Merry to a whole new batch of Mommies.

2 Comments

Emily M

1/13/2015 03:42:42 am

So incredibly proud to have been a part of this amazing project! Seriously, one of the best things I've ever seen.

Tundi Brady

1/26/2015 01:29:22 am

As a NICU graduate mommy (5 years ago), I want to let you know I think this was such a special project and am sure brought joy to the hearts of the mommies with babies in the NICU. Thanks for thinking of others and being totally awesome!! I am helping next year!

Bringing Some Merry to the Mommies

Our NICU Service Project Review

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