FORT RILEY, Kan. - Sometimes, when a baby is born, the Family is sent home with nothing for the child. Thanks to Edith Nolan and the American Red Cross Mother's Outreach Program, this is not the case for babies born to Families of Soldiers with the rank of corporal and below at Irwin Army Community Hospital.
The project, which the Red Cross took over from IACH, was started in the late 1980s and gives mothers bundles containing items that come in handy for parents of infants. These items, such as blankets and booties, are all tucked inside a tote bag with the Mother's Outreach Program emblem on it.
The bundles are assembled by Nolan in her home, as well as at IACH. According to Nolan, this allows her to have easy access to bundles for baby boys or girls, since the bundles are gender specific.
Although it is a Red Cross program, Mother's Outreach is not funded by money from the Red Cross, but from donations given by people residing both in the community and as far away as California, where the handmade blankets come from.
"We have sometimes 80 babies a month," said Debbi Freeman, chairman of volunteers for the American Red Cross.
According to Freeman, many of those babies are born after a deployment, and the majority are to Soldiers ranking corporal and lower.
Currently, Nolan is the only one who delivers the bundles, and the Red Cross is seeking donations, as well as volunteers who would like to deliver the bundles.
"It's a way the community can give something to servicemen and their wives for newborns," said James Finch, Red Cross station manager.
A recent donation came Feb. 18 from the Enlisted Spouse's Club.
For more information about the Mother's Outreach Program, call 239-1887.
Social Sharing