LCH is a 35-bed hospital located in Landour Cantonment in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India. It is part of the Emmanuel Hospital Association, a group of Christian hospitals who are dedicated to serving the poor and disenfranchised. As many members of the communities it serves live at a subsistence level, the focus is on providing the best care possible, which includes various village clinics in the surrounding communities.
In 2013, the (then) new OB/GYN at Landour Community Hospital expressed a desire to see all babies sent home with a care package of immediate-need/use items. While it is not difficult to find volunteers willing to sew baby playsuits or to purchase some diapers to divide up amongst the kits, it has consistently been a challenge to supply sufficient baby hats to LCH to ensure that all babies - especially those whose parents are impoverished or close to it - are sent home with a small selection of items to help start the baby off in the best way possible.
Woodstock's knitting clubs have waxed and waned, the Community Engagement head working with student knitters, and periodic Facebook pleas from various quarters yielding a handful of hats here, another handful of hats there. When it was 30-45 babies a month, it was easier to manage, but often there would still be moments where the supply was on a day-to-day basis.
Now, we are reaching out more broadly than ever before and looking for people willing to make hats out of cloth or yarn to help ensure that the babies born in this corner of the Garhwal area can go home with warm heads! This is a particularly dear cause to many at Woodstock School as in 2013, 2014 and 2015, a number of staff babies were (or will be!) born at LCH, and we feel strong ties to the hospital.
In 2013, the (then) new OB/GYN at Landour Community Hospital expressed a desire to see all babies sent home with a care package of immediate-need/use items. While it is not difficult to find volunteers willing to sew baby playsuits or to purchase some diapers to divide up amongst the kits, it has consistently been a challenge to supply sufficient baby hats to LCH to ensure that all babies - especially those whose parents are impoverished or close to it - are sent home with a small selection of items to help start the baby off in the best way possible.
Woodstock's knitting clubs have waxed and waned, the Community Engagement head working with student knitters, and periodic Facebook pleas from various quarters yielding a handful of hats here, another handful of hats there. When it was 30-45 babies a month, it was easier to manage, but often there would still be moments where the supply was on a day-to-day basis.
Now, we are reaching out more broadly than ever before and looking for people willing to make hats out of cloth or yarn to help ensure that the babies born in this corner of the Garhwal area can go home with warm heads! This is a particularly dear cause to many at Woodstock School as in 2013, 2014 and 2015, a number of staff babies were (or will be!) born at LCH, and we feel strong ties to the hospital.
There have been some large donations from churches and organizations as well as individuals to help contribute to the major drive this first year - after a post on a craft website (Ravelry), we received over 100 hats knit by individuals. It was true proof that 5 here, 7 there, 10 there, 3 there, really can make an immense impact.
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