Items needed for St. Martha's Baby Project

Intermountain Catholic

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Volunteers at St. Martha's Baby Project in Ogden carefully assemble layettes such as this one to donate to newborns and their mothers. IC photo/Marie Mischel

OGDEN — The shelves are a little bare in the single room in the Catholic Community Services Northern Utah (CCS) building that houses St. Martha’s Baby Project. While there are piles of quilts, afghans and hats, "right now we’re out of bottles" said Chris Losee, the volunteer who heads the project. "Pacifiers we’re also out of, and we’re also low on wipes right now. And we always need diapers, newborn or size one. The problem we’re having right now is that we’re at the end of the year and we’ve used pretty much all of the Christmas donations, and we don’t get our grant until the middle of January."

St. Martha’s Baby Project distributes 50 to 60 layettes each month to low-income mothers of newborns in northern Utah hospitals. The program also serves the Prevent Child Abuse Utah and the Children’s Justice Center.

Each layette contains numerous items needed for the care of a newborn: bottles, bibs, burp cloths, onesies, pajamas and blankets. A small bag of personal care items for the mother also is included.

Other than a grant from the St. Benedict Foundation to purchase some supplies, the program is "all donations," said Marcie Valdez, director of CCS Northern Utah. "That’s why we’re so lucky to have such great volunteers who truly love the program, because we just don’t receive any financial support for staffing the program."

Throughout the year, many community groups donate items to the project, Losee said. Aside from St. Benedict’s Foundation, their primary donors are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Ladies’ Relief Society, Saint Rose of Lima Parish and the Sewing Angels group from that parish, Far West Senior Center, McKay-Dee nurses, Project Linus, Eagle Scouts, Saint James Catholic Church, the Utah Food Bank, "and many anonymous friends and volunteers," according to a poster on the wall of the room at CCS where the layettes are assembled.

"It’s a perfect example of us working with so many community groups and churches and hospitals and other non-profits to share these gifts," Valdez said.

Losee and two volunteers spend about four hours each week creating the layettes, she said. Another volunteer delivers the layettes to the organizations that distribute them, and sometimes the hospital nurses will pick them up at CCS, Losee said.

"It’s just a warm and fuzzy kind of project," she said, adding that she looks forward to the afternoon she spends each week assembling the layettes. "It’s a time for some friendship, it’s also a time for quiet. And I agree with the philosophy that every baby needs to come home with something beautiful. They deserve a blanket."

Donations of newborn baby items and personal care items for new mothers may be made to any CCS location. Also, for the Year of Faith, many parishes in the Diocese of Salt Lake City are collecting items for CCS on the second Sunday of each month. For the months of January and February, the suggested items are new blankets and warm clothes for babies, and shoes and gloves for all ages.