An SSM St. Mary’s hospital volunteer was on an elevator and overheard nurses talking about going to garage sales to buy clothing for newborns there whose moms and dads had little or no resources.
“We heard that the nurses were going home, going to garage sales to get the girls clothes to go home with,” Alice Provaznik said.
While it broke her heart, she decided that was a task volunteers could take on, and thus the genesis of the Sweet Babies program at St. Mary’s. It started five years ago and became a 501 c.3 nonprofit organization in 2014.
Provaznik started as a volunteer force of one, and while the organization is still quite small, volunteers help 60-70 families per month, sending newborns home with a gift bag of diapers, new or gently used clean seasonal clothing, blankets, onesies, socks and other baby items needed through their first year of life.
“When we give a bag to the girls in the hospital to go home with, we give them [sizes] 0 to3, 3 to 6, and 6 to 12, so they always have something to go into,” Provaznik said. “Mothers always ask for socks, so we put three pairs of socks in each bag, and we put hats.”
They also supply pack-in-plays for babies who do not have beds to sleep in. Hospital social workers determine which families are in need of assistance from Sweet Babies.
Clothing comes from individual donations and thrift stores.
Inmates at the maximum security prison in Potosi, Missouri knit little hats and booties for the babies.
“We went to Potosi one day to thank them … these big men do the hats on looms, but the booties – they take two men’s short combs, one in each hand, and they knit with the teeth of the comb. We are very grateful to Potosi,” she said. Sweet Babies supplies the yarn.
Barb Fisher, a Sweet Babies volunteer, treasurer and board member, said individuals sew baby items to donate as well.
“We have so many people make things; most of our bibs and burp cloths are made, although we’ve had to buy some because we run out of people making them,” Fisher said.
A $750 Walmart card from The Assistance League allowed them to buy socks and receiving blankets for the babies.
“When we get donations from people, we get a lot of the clothes, because they are hand-me-down or we can go to Goodwill and find them,” Fisher said. “You can’t find nice socks for babies – and receiving blankets, so those are the two things we found that we had to buy.”
Provaznik said their greatest need is diapers, and donations from the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank, along with diaper donations from baby shower donations and individuals help tremendously.
“We used to buy a lot of diapers, but now, we’ve been lucky with the [St. Louis Area] Diaper Bank,” Provaznik said.
Each gift bag has 50 to 60 diapers in it. Ron Laurentius, a volunteer and board member, said Sweet Babies supplies around 5,000 diapers to its families and those at Cardinal Glennon.
Additionally, donations of baby items and toys for older children go to SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital for its patients.
In addition, each child goes home with three books in their gift bag from Sweet Babies.
To donate or for more information, call (314) 768-8419, email info@sweetbabies.org, or visit www.sweetbabies.org.
