March News, Updates, and Prayer Requests

The VIRTUAL IUGR Awareness Day Walk was a great success! Visit their page to learn more about what they are doing and to see pictures from the walk! We are so blessed to be the partner charity in 2016. Thank you IUGR for all that you do to raise awareness and support families across the nation. 

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Kelsey is a former 24 weeker and surviving twin. For her senior project she chose to sew 300 skin to skin hearts for Preemie Prints and NICU babies. Today she went by the Texas Health NICU in Denton with her Mom and Grandma to drop them off. There were lots of hugs and tears as she shared her story of strength and determination. Kelsey is a 4.0 student and tomorrow will compete at a National level dance competition! We hope her story can inspire you and bring you a little hope today. Thank you Kelsey and good luck!!

Donation drop off at S&W NICU in College Station: We donated 8 angel giraffes, 25 gift bundles, including special St. Patricks Day giraffes, 3 cuddler beds, and 20 positioners! These items will help the NICU staff & bring comfort to their NICU families! Thank you to all of the volunteers who came out to help.

We're always thankful to have our Starlight Volunteers ready and willing to help! Below are three little NICU graduates who like to come and help too! 

Wedding dress donation for our angel giraffes. 

Both of these ladies completed their 1st sewing project with us. Great job!

Sewing instruction

PRAYER REQUEST:

Please pray with us for these special requests:

"Our little granddaughter Austyn was born 13 weeks early. Please join us in praying for her to be healthy and grow and develop normally. Specifically right now we need her little heart to heal. She is a fighter and I believe God has great plans for her. Please also pray for her parents to be strong. Thank you"

 "Please I beg of you, pray for my twin nieces who are currently in NICU, born at 23 weeks, weighing one pound. Amaya is battling with lung issues, and we need all of the prayers we can get. God please place you healing hands on my nieces. In jesus name, Amen."

NICU Support & Sewing Meeting Bryan College Station

Earlier this month we had a fantastic meeting that was held at The College Station Medical Center. We had an amazing turn out. Volunteers, past NICU parents, angel parents, and current NICU parents attended. We even had a few of the NICU nurses stop by to visit! Our sponsors at Eatology were also wonderful. Nick was so helpful at our meeting, visited with moms who were there, told us about Eatology, and we found out he was a NICU grad too. Very special. The food was yummy and nutritious!

We're looking forward to our upcoming meeting in February at St. Joseph's Hospital in Bryan, Tx. This meeting will be held in the basement room B/C and again all are invited to attend. Then in March we will be at Scott & White Hospital in College Station!

Below you will find more information about our local NICU sewing and support meetings. We hope you can join us in the future! No sewing skills required, just a desire to support local families who have a baby born prematurely or critically ill. We appreciate your time in helping. If you don't live in our area or don't have time to attend meetings, and you still would like to help, we invite you to become a sew-at-home volunteer! You can contact Jen@preemieprints.org to learn more.

We were so happy to drop off 20 NICU positioning devices & 18 NICU gift bundles to be used and distributed to families in the NICU at The College Station Medical Center (Med Center). Every family who comes through one of our local NICUs should receive a gift bundle. If you don't please contact us or ask a nurse! We will get one to you. We're looking forward to replenishing the supply at St. Joseph's in just a few short weeks.

January 2015 Donation Drop Off
The Med, College Station, Tx

About our local meetings: 

This year we are holding a sewing & support meeting one time per month, on the 2nd Thursday of every month, on a rotating hospital basis. These meetings are held in Bryan/College Station. Thank you for helping us to share hope with so many by attending or volunteering remotely.

We invite sewing volunteers, NICU families (past and present), and angel families to attend this meeting! We will use our time each meeting to make special items for families in the NICU and also offer our support to any current NICU families who attend.

A meal will be provided at each meeting for all volunteers & families who attend.

This year we will also begin making our new angel gift for families who experience an infant loss. We invite all angel families to join us in making these gifts to share hope with other angel families.

At the close of each meeting we will all drop off our donations to the NICU including positioning devices, NICU gift bundles, and angel gifts.

Thank you for being apart of these very important meetings in support of NICU & angel families! We will be working on positioners, giraffes, outfits and other projects needed. Bring a sewing machine if you have one or just bring yourself. No SEWING SKILLS required!!

TO CURRENT NICU FAMILIES:

Why Attend?

- warm welcoming environment for meeting other families
- parent-to-parent support
- share your story & feelings
- ask questions about your NICU journey
- help with the transition from hospital to home
- become part of the BCS NICU family network
- Join us to be apart of our crafting for the NICU, for a meal, or just to visit for a little bit!
- We also can help families with specific needs such as preemie car seats to borrow, preemie clothes, and other needed items.

Link to February's Facebook Event can be found here. 

Working on preparing gift bundles before the meeting!

Two little NICU graduate helpers! 

Hard at work sewing for NICU babies!

www.preemieprints.org

Sewing for NICU Babies In College Station

This past Thursday we held our monthly Preemie Prints Sew & Craft meeting at Scott & White Hospital in College Station. We had a wonderful turnout with new many new volunteers - thank you all for coming! I think we had about 5 sewing machines going and the rest of us were turning, stuffing, and hand sewing giraffes for babies in the NICU. These giraffes are a very special keepsake for NICU families and can also be used to transfer mom's scent to baby. You can tuck the giraffe close to your skin to absorb your scent. You can then leave the scented giraffe next to your baby for comfort when you are not there.

After our sewing meeting we made a large donation to the S&W NICU. We donated 18 positioning devices to be used in the babies developmental care. Babies born early need special attention to
support their growth. Developmental care means providing your baby with every opportunity for the best possible progress. Preemie Prints is happy to be a part of the developmental care of all babies in Bryan College Station who must be in the NICU through our donated NICU positioning devices. We have many programs but this one is so special because we know we are directly helping preemies and supporting their development. Our positioning device is a bead filled tube covered with soft fleece. Nurses gently shape it around the baby. When baby pushes against the tube, they can feel the beads moving back. This is similar to what a baby feels in your womb. This device also helps with warmth, holding wires, and positioning baby.

We also donated 25 NICU gift bundles for families containing a giraffe and a preemie hat! It was a wonderful meeting. Many of us are past NICU parents so we talked about our NICU journeys. A current NICU mom popped in to share a little about her journey and we had two NICU nurses from Scott & White stop in to thank us for what we do. You can join us the 1st Thursday of every month at one of our local hospitals. We meet on a rotating schedule at all three. Here is the current schedule.

July 3rd - The College Station Medical Center, Executive boardroom, 1st Floor
August 7th - St. Joseph's Hospital, Basement Room E/F
September 4th - Scott & White Hospital, Third Floor, Boardroom right outside of the NICU
October 2nd - The College Station Med, Executive boardroom, 1st Floor
November 6th - St. Joseph's Hospital, Basement Room E/F
December 4th - Scott & White - Christmas Party with NICU Family Support Group and local volunteers

Little Helpers

Hard at work

Scott & White NICU donation 2014

Proof of Purchase Fundraiser

Attention Preemie Prints supporters in Houston, Bryan College Station, and beyond... Fiesta is a big community supporter!! They offer several ways for Houston area organizations to raise money. It is a very simple process. They provide a list of products, you save the proof of purchase (doesn't have to be bought from Fiesta but is encouraged to give back to the company that is supporting us), send them in to us and they are redeemed by Fiesta. Easy right? If possible please use one bag for each type of of product as they have to be counted individually (put all the coke labels in one ziplock/grocery bag etc).

Our first turn in date is March 15th we will receive 50% more for each item turned in by this date. If you will be mailing them please be sure that your fist set is mailed in time for us to sort and count them for our turn in. Bryan College Station and national supporters can mail them or drop off to Preemie Prints 2306 Kendal Green Cir. College Station TX 77845. If you are in the Houston or surrounding areas you can mail them to Jeanna Wattles 8441 C E King Parkway Houston Tx 77044. Either way they will both get counted and turned in on time! If you don't make the first turn in date that is fine, please send them for the second turn in date of May 17th. Click on the link below for the list of products. Please print out and keep with you!!

Fiesta Super Sports Club

Easy print out to keep with you below!

Houston NICU, Houston Premature Baby, Houston Preemie Support 

Houston's Daniel Elliot Paints for Charity

Daniel Elliott  
born in Southington, CT in 1972. Daniel studied Painting and Illustration at the University Of Connecticut School Of Fine Arts from 1990 to 1996. After college, Daniel having such an outgoing personality entered into corporate America, for the most part spent his time climbing the management ladder. But, at the end of the day Daniel was an artist at heart and he came back to his true calling. He is truly an artist and his work has evolved into his own unique style. 

He uses texture and color in amazing ways to make his concepts literally come to life as they jump off the paper. He has an extensive background in abstract but don't be fooled as his realism has the ability to capture your soul. His paintings have been displayed in numerous galleries for solo and group exhibitions. He has many collectors both nationally and internationally, including corporate installations and commissioned work. Daniel currently teaches acrylic fundamentals and mixed media painting in group and private lessons, workshops and at Jerry's Artarama in Houston, TX

Daniel in action working
an upcoming event

Artist at work

Daniel has a huge heart and has donated one of his gallery pieces to Preemie Prints. He is hoping that it will make funds that are very necessary in our mission to reach more families impacted by Premature, Nicu, and Angel babies. Houston has a Hero named Daniel Elliot.




We will be having an auction in College Station at "Little Monsters 5K" on October 26th. If you would like to place a bid on the painting or make a donation to our cause please email Jeanna


Houston NICU Heros 5K Team
Donate Now

Here is the painting that Daniel donated

Beautiful

More Sweet Giraffes for Preemies & NICU Babies!

We have 10 more giraffes completed and ready for NICU gift bundles. Each NICU support bundle has a handmade outfit, hat, giraffe, and blanket. These bundles go to Bryan and College Station families who have a baby born prematurely or critically ill. They are meant to bring a smile and share hope with families as they face a very difficult time. These little giraffes and gifts are made with so much love, we hope they provide a lifetime of memories for NICU families. Houston's sew & craft chapter is just about to get started, so if you live in the area join them to help make bundles, positioners, and cuddlers! If you can help remotely we'd love to have your help. We've got an online Sew & Craft group through meetup and facebook. Please join us! Below you will find our tutorial, so you can help us make giraffes!

 

Giraffe project is ready!!!

We are hosting a continuous online giraffe drive! We have a step by step tutorial along with a downloadable giraffe made by one of our Preemie Prints volunteers. We need help from around the nation. Get together with some friends and get sewing for the babies in the NICU. Post pics of your giraffes on our facebook page or tag us to spread the word!

Thank you so much for volunteering for this project =)

Giraffe template can be found here

Mail finished giraffes to our organization headquarters:

Preemie Prints

2306 Kendal Green Cir.

College Station TX 77845

www.preemieprints.org

http://www.facebook.com/PreemiePrints

August Sew &Craft Meeting

Three wonderful new volunteers attended our August 2013 Preemie Prints sew & craft meeting last night. At our meetings volunteers, from skilled seamstresses to those of us who can cut patterns or stuff giraffes, come together in support of NICU families. Our meetings can be a wee bit crazy, since kids are always invited to come, but we think it's so much fun! After all many of our little ones who attend are NICU graduates, and they are the reasons we do what we do. So if you have a little one, please know they are welcome to come. This past meeting my girls who are only 3.5 stuffed their 1st giraffe. They too will be helping to give these beautiful handmade gifts to NICU and preemie families in the Brazos Valley and beyond very soon! We have our Houston chapter up and running again and new families attending our meetings will also receive a gift bundle. We're also donating to the new Scott & White Hospital in College Station that will open this month, so we are always in need of volunteers. Some have asked what donations we need to keep our sewing division fully stocked with materials, so here is a short list: 

Flannel - baby print or pastel solids (anything you would swaddle a newborn baby in)

Cotton - fun prints, trendy prints, baby prints (we use cotton for our preemie outfits, cuddlers, and giraffes)

Fleece - baby print, bright & colorful (we use fleece for our NICU positioners)

Stuffing - we need stuffing to stuff the little giraffes with 

Ribbon - 5/8" grosgrain - all colors needed (we use this for our giraffes)

Quilt Batting - for cuddlers

Yarn - preemie hats

Donations can be mailed or we will gladly pick up if possible! Just email Jen@preemieprints.org to arrange.

Hope to see you at a meeting!

Fabric needed for cuddlers

Yarn needed for preemie hats

ribbon needed for giraffes