Would you want a way to help out other parents facing a short or long NICU stay? We spent 2 weeks in the NICU and know it can be exhausting facing the ups and downs of having a sick baby in the hospital. I wanted a way to give back to the wonderful Louisville Baptist Health NICU who helped save my daughter Parker’s life. They were so caring, loving, and supporting to us while we were there. Our hope is that our care packages have brought a little bit of light to a long, tough journey.

First I contacted one of the NICU nurses. I had a relationship already with her. If I had not we would ask to be put in touch with a nurse manager or volunteer/parent coordinator.
Our NICU wanted us to be able to offer a care package to as many families were in the NICU at the time. Their capacity was around 8 private rooms/ beds. So I involved 4-Her’s ages 11-13 years old and set a goal of 50 care packages. The goal was 50 packs for around $6 a pack.

We had 4-Her’s tell family and friends. Gathered support and rally other NICU families. We let others know what we were doing. We had an outpouring of support and it was great.
A list of care package items were available to give out and a deadline. Deadline was important to have everything collected by a week before I had to deliver. It gave us time to take inventory, organize and make sure we had everything we needed.

 

Care Package Items:
 
Small lotions
Chapstick
Snacks
Small notebooks
Pens
Hand sanitizer
Kleenexes
Sample size shampoo/conditioner
Anything else that would be appropriate

 This is a great way to give back and encourage other parents on similar journeys. 4-H has a rich history of completing projects to benefit the community. The 4-H pledge includes, “I pledge my hands to larger service for my club, my community, my country and my world.” 4-Her’s are not only meeting the needs of the community, 4-H’ers are learning valuable skills about designing a project and following it through to completion.