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Bangor, ME
November 13th, 2001
From Vicki ~ Pictures ~ Inventory ~ A Thank You From A Parent
From Vicki, about this presentation:
First I would like to thank each and everyone of you for your generosity. Once again because of your dedication, generosity and hard labor of love for the babies, another presentation was a SMASHING success. I truly get frustrated that I cannot find the proper words in the English dictionary to describe how appreciative I am. Most times saying Thank You just doesn't seem enough.
Presentation day at Eastern Maine Medical was another special day for TLC, as it accomplished more than just helping the babies on a one time basis. I know some people frown on the fact that we like to have media coverage at the presentations. Reasoning for the coverage is to be able to hopefully educate the communities that the hospitals in their areas do need and welcome additional help. EMMC presentation has accomplished this. We were hoping for at least one source of media coverage to attend, and were truly excited that 3 TV stations attended. These stations aired the coverage of the presentation the very same day on their early evening news and again on their 11 o'clock news. Even one of the reporters that attended wants to join our efforts in helping the babies. Hopefully from this coverage, someone will be able to organize an ongoing group in the town of Bangor that will continue to service EMMC.
We arrived at the hospital at 10:30 in the morning, bringing 31 boxes to the receiving department, where we were assisted in unloading the van, stacking them on the flatbed cart and personnel taking them to the children's wing for us. Arriving at the children's wing we were greeted by very excited personnel. The waiting room that we were at was absolutely adorable, it had a lighthouse in the middle of the room that a child could play in, padded bench seat that went complete around the walls in the room, the walls were designed to look like an aquarium. It had brilliantly colored fish swimming around as well. Tina Gist came to take us into the conference room so we could set up our items that we had brought for display. While setting up these items on the table, the room rapidly started filling up with people, which at the time I thought was just hospital personnel. Until I found out that it was 3 TV stations.
The reporters asked many questions, such as how many volunteers, what is the age range of our volunteers, what is the youngest volunteer and what is the oldest. They were truly amazed when I told them about our 5 year old twins who are TLC Cherubs that made Angel Cache boxes and about our wonderful lady that is blind that knits blankets for the babies. (That is when the one reporter made the remark that the stories only get better and better.) Amazed when we showed them the preemie blanket that was made by a 10 year old boy. They wanted details on how a hospital was selected, details on how the items get to where they are destined to be given, details on what a coordinator has to do, wanting to know how long we had been in existance. There were so many questions it made and my head swim. LOL The camera men took so many pictures of the boxes, items on the table, taking zoom closeups of many items, they actually seemed reluctant to leave when it was over.
A father of 2 week old twins was invited into the room which we were able to present him with matching blankets and hat sets for his twin girls. He was just ever so thrilled and touched at the generosity, hearing his thoughts that he voiced and hearing a parent's side of feelings of what they are enduring when they have a child in the NICU and hearing how just a small blanket and hat can pick the spirits up of these families makes all the hard work we all do truly worthwhile. We were allowed to get a picture of one of his daughters, and had permission to have one of the other twin, however we declined to do so, as by the time we got up to the NICU, Daddy was sound asleep in a chair beside the isolette of the twin that had just had surgery the previous day. We refused to let the nurse wake him. We told her we did not need a picture that badly- to let him sleep!!!!! We just didn't have the heart to wake him.
We had a full tour of the NICU which is a 19 bed unit, but they already had 20 babies in the NICU. We had a tour of the children's wing, maternity ward, the play areas that they have designed for the children. They described their procedures to us on how they try to make a hospital stay less scary for a child.
The hospital staff - Nurses, Dept. Heads, Doctors, along with the Reporters and camera men and especially Daddy of the Twins, asked that we relay their gratitude to each and everyone of you for your generosity.
Hugs,
Vicki
 
 
 
Angel Caches made by 5 y ear old twins, TLC Cherubs
 
 
I wanted to give you some sort of idea of what all was given to Eastern Maine Medical on Tues. We had a total of 1400 items. Many of these items were already matched as sets by the persons who made them, others that we received from we matched with another person's item to make sets. Since everyone concentrates on the type of item they like to make best we try to compliment each person's work by combining it with another person's item to make complete sets by matching a person's booties to another person's hat to another person's blanket, and VOILA... we have a complete set to offer a baby with 3 separate tags letting the parents know how far each item has traveled to become a set. For example, the booties might have come from California, the hat from Florida and the blanket from Texas. Then the rest of the items are given singular as not all babies will need complete sets. They might only need a blanket or a hat or a sweater, etc. We took in 31 boxes of items!
212 hats (newborn, preemie and toddler sizes in crochet, knit, sewn or purchased)
89 afghans (newborn and preemie sizes)
48 Hat / blanket sets
47 Sweater / hat sets
39 Hat and bootie sets
38 Butterfly shirts newborn
35 Booties
32 Bootie / hat sets
25 Sweater, hat, bootie sets
21 Bibs
17 Sweaters
17 Gown / hat / booties sets
16 Take Me Home outfits
15 Mitts
14 Newborn hat, bootie, blanket sets
12 Purchased Take me Home outfits
9 Purchased bears
9 Hand embroidered preemie quilts
9 Preemie receiving blankets
| 8 Sewn flannel infant pajama sets
8 Gown / hat sets
8 Newborn sewn blankets
8 Quilts
8 t-shirts with hand painted designs
7 Newborn hat / bootie / sweater / blanket sets
7 Preemie buntings
6 Preemie tube socks
6 Preemie hooded blankets
4 Sewn stuffed kitties
4 Angel Cache boxes filled with goodies for babies
4 buntings
4 Child's hat & mitten set
3 Keepsake boxes
2 Sewn bears
2 Nursing coverups
2 Small flannel kimono
1 Purchased newborn shirt, shorts, bib, burp cloth
Variety of activity books, coloring books, puzzles, stuffed toys and dolls
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Over 1400 items!! Ladies, please take a bow, you all deserve a wonderful round of applause for another presentation well done. Again, Thank You soooooo much for all your hard work.
"We would like to thank you for the wonderful quilts made by Sally Morgan - New Carlisle, OH. We have identical twin boys in the NICU at EMMC in Bangor, Maine. Willaim + Benjamin are doing very well! We hope to have them home soon! Your organization does such a wonderful thing! ...Continue the wonderful service that you perform. Thanks again, Robin, Billy, William Jr + Benjamin"
 
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