Todd DeatonHats off (or maybe that should be “hats on”!) to three friends at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, Easley – Susan Youngblood, Jean Pilgrim and Amy Fuller.
The three women have started a ministry to newborns in the neonatal intensive care units at area hospitals.
Youngblood, an X-ray technician, had knitted and crocheted hats for Charleston Baptist Association’s Seamen’s Ministry. After reading an article about a group that was making hats for newborns, she decided to start making “lil’ hats” for preemies and very ill babies.
Pilgrim, a retired teacher and fellow church member, saw Youngblood knitting before choir practice one day. When Youngblood told her that the hats she was making were for a neonatal unit, Pilgrim recalled how years earlier her own family had felt alone and helpless while their baby was in a hospital. She knew she wanted to help.
Youngblood, Fuller and Pilgrim display some of the hats they have made for newborns in the neonatal intensive care units at area hospitals.Fuller, a nurse with Greenville Memorial Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care, understood the need for the hats. She told Amy that babies are not born with body fat needed to regulate body temperature, leaving them at risk for infections. Because tubes and monitoring equipment are often needed, many can wear only the hats to keep warm, she said. Fuller offered to take the hats they made to the babies.
And “sew,” the three started the “Heaven’s Lil’ Hats” ministry. Members of the Woman’s Missionary Union at Mt. Carmel, led by Jo Ann Thornton, now share in their ministry, helping knit and crochet many of the hats. Tags are placed on the hats with information about the church and a message to tell parents that the lil’ hats come with love and prayers for their babies.
“Some of the babies do not go home, and that little hat is something that their parents have to remember them by,” said Pilgrim. “We pray that the little note on the hat will help them know that our church is there if they need us.”
The women also make seasonal hats, such as Santa hats at Christmas and bonnets with flowers and bunnies at Easter. They are now supplying two area hospitals with hats and hope to soon expand the ministry to a third.
Some of the teachers, students and mothers involved in Mt. Carmel’s school have also become involved, as well as the senior citizens group. And kids attending children’s church bring 25 cents each week to help buy yarn, needles and hooks.
“Who knew that a craft that we loved could mean so much for so many people?” Pilgrim pondered. “It is just a small token of our love” – along the Way.