We are back to meeting each Thursday at the Webb Chapel Church of Christ in Farmers Branch. Meetings start at 10 and go until we "finish" that days activities. That is typically 1:30-2:00pm.

Monthly meetings to process items for delivery are typically the first Saturday of each month, with some on the second Saturday due to holidays or church availability. Check our newsletter for updates, or check with us at lovethybaby@ltnlovethyneighbor.org. Starting in June 2024, we will meet from 10-12 on Saturdays to avoid loading vehicles in the hottest part of the day.

We can't thank the church enough for their continued support in providing us a workplace.

Operating under COVID-19 Restrictions

Love Thy Baby volunteers have been unable to meet as a group since March of 2020 and expect that to be the case for the remainder of the year. We are not letting that slow us down, however. Many of our volunteers are staying close to home and sewing, serging, knitting and crocheting like crazy!

It does present challenges for the activities we typically do as a group when we meet:

Usually two volunteers run a quilt table, squaring batting with tops and backs, while others sew around the resulting quilts, stitch them closed, and do the final quilting. Several of our volunteers are taking batting home and running a one-person table. Slower going, but we're getting it done!

It takes three volunteers to tear bolts of flannel into receiving blanket sized pieces, while others fold, count and bag them to be serged at home. We are very grateful to Jennifer at the Old Craft Store for allowing us to use their classroom space to do this once a month. We're keeping the tearing team to five, to minimize the risk, and we've discovered that wearing masks means less irritation to your sinuses from the lint that flies when you tear flannel!

Lastly, the operating committee members are coordinating pickup of completed items from our volunteers. Whether that means parking lot meets, volunteers dropping at our door, or retrieving items sent to our PO Box, we're getting that done too!

Our hospitals are so pleased that we're able to continue to support them. After all, babies are still being born every day and we want as many of them as possible to go home wrapped in a warm blanket.

2017 in Review

The end of 2017 completed our third year as a program under Love Thy Neighbor. Our deliveries stayed consistent with 2016, with roughly 50,00 items in total each year. We average 3,000 items a month, plus 400 Christmas bags and their contents provided to Parkland and JPS in December.

This past summer, a press release from Parkland sparked a flurry of news attention for Love Thy Baby. We had no less than four news crews film our work sessions resulting in news bites and printed articles in both English and Spanish. We also added visibility for all the LTN programs through our participation in the North Texas Giving Day.

NTGD, the Parkland Auxiliary, TPHCCA, Northaven UMC, TI and many generous individuals provide funding for the large quantities of flannel, batting, fleece and yarn that we consume while creating our blankets and handmade clothing. We still rely on clothing drives and our volunteers to gather store bought clothing to supplement what we're able to make, but we've come a long way from the early years of "passing the hat" before each major purchase! 

Our satellite groups continue to contribute more than a quarter of our items, with the Knits Wits at the Coppell Senior Center continuing to be the largest. Lakeview Josey Ranch and Atria Canyon Creek contribute each month as well. The Clothing Assistance (CAP) program provides large quantities of used baby clothing and diapers each month. Nancy Petty works hard to sort through these and pass them on to the agencies we work with as well. 

All of the publicity generated by our fundraising and media coverage has resulted in a number of new volunteers and some very large donations of fabric and yarn that put us in a great position going into 2018. We thank all those who've contributed items, money and/or their time, allowing us to do more each year.

Al

2016 in Review

We started 2016 with the announcement that Gloria Kennedy would take over from Kay Stephenson as Program Manager for Love Thy Baby, representing us on the Love Thy Neighbor board. Kay served us well as President for the last few years that we were with Newborns in Need and orchestrated our transition to LTN, where we have a broader base of financial supporters. We thank Kay for everything she did to grow our group during her tenure.

Over the course of the year, we grew our financial contributions through participation in the North Texas Day of Giving, as well as continued support from the Parkland Auxiliary, TPHCCA, Dell Services, Northaven UMC, TI and many wonderful individual contributors.

Lakeview Josey Ranch joined us as an additional satellite group and our existing groups continue to make more and more, particularly the Coppell Senior Center Knit Wits and Atria Canyon Creek. The CAP program has been passing large quantities of used baby clothing and diapers on to the agencies we work with as well. All of this contributed to significant growth in our 2016 deliveries. 

We closed the year by filling 385 Christmas bags for Parkland and JPS, with multiple clothing items, loveys and receiving blankets in each bag.  All of the above contributed to substantial growth over the previous year, from just over 40,000 items in 2015 to just over 50,000 items in 2016.

 Love Thy Baby is made up of an absolutely wonderful group of volunteers and we could not provide for so many babies without each and every one of you. Keep up the good work!