Elderly volunteers are success of St. Martha's Baby Project

IC Photo by Christine Young

+ Enlarge

Eileen Lavallee, Mary Berge,Helen Egleston, and Loretta Nikolai meet twice a week to sew, quilt, stuff bears and prepare layettes for babies being born into poverty.

SALT LAKE CITY - Without the time and talent the elderly volunteers put into St. Martha's Baby Project, it could not flourish and keep up with the demand and requests for layettes.

Today we are putting together 18 layettes needed this week for babies being born into poverty," said Eileen Lavallee, president of St. Martha's Baby Project and a member of Saint Thomas More Parish. "We work two days a week. On Tuesdays we put together layettes at Holy Cross Ministries and every other Wednesday we stuff our signature bears at Florence Wilson's house, who has been involved with the project since the beginning. We make between 375 and 380 layettes a year. The layettes consist of hand-made blankets, an afghan, a burp cloth, a bib, a night-gown, an outfit plus baby supplies such as lotion, powder and diapers which total about $225. We also give the mothers a toiletry kit.

"We have fun doing this and we are productive at the same time. Who doesn't like helping babies? Buying baby things and making items is fun," said Lavallee.

"We are friends and have been together a long time," said Mary Berg, who has been a member since 1972. "This was a neat way of moving on. Years ago when we started, I think some of us were frustrated grandmothers because our children weren't getting married and having babies."

Fr. Patrick Carley, now pastor of Saint Joseph the Worker Parish, started St. Martha's Baby Guild in 1972 as a neighborhood project for women when he was

an assistant pastor at Saint Vincent de Paul Parish, said Helen Egleston, who has been a member since St. Martha's began.

Loretta Nikolai moved to Salt Lake City from Wisconsin in 1999 to be with her children after her husband died. She is a member of Saint Catherine of Siena Parish and Newman Center and has been involved with St. Martha's Baby Project for 10 years. "I said if I move to Utah I am going to join St. Martha's. I started quilting in Wisconsin and now I quilt the baby blankets here."

"Being involved in this has been a real saving grace since my husband died in 2004," said Lavallee. "It fills my void. I was already involved, but this was a good thing to help keep me busy."

Holy Cross Ministry workers in the Hispanic communities in Midvale, Wendover, Summit County and Salt Lake City tell Maribel Real, director of Outreach for Holy Cross Ministries, how many layettes they need. St. Martha's also makes layettes for Olympus Hills Ward, which is helping refugee families, the Ladies of Charity and others throughout the Salt Lake Valley.

Real said the help this last year has been incredible. "We have families who have absolutely nothing for their new baby; not even used items," she said. "Our clients are required to complete seven parenting classes before they can receive a layette, and when they actually receive the layette, so many just start crying. When they see the incredible amount of items that are all new it is just an awesome feeling."

Real said the clients take such prenatal classes as car seat training, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), Shaken Baby Syndrome, nutrition in pregnancy and exercise in pregnancy, postpartum depression, domestic violence and literacy classes. "The classes are basic, but this is the first time many of them have had any information. They always end up taking more than the required seven classes because they are hungry for knowledge."