Blankets for Babies Blankets for Babies (February 03, 2006)

Pleasanton volunteers give newborns warmth and lifetime keepsakes
by Jerri Long

One person certainly can make a difference. Take Pleasanton's Cleo Foster, whose charisma has inspired others to join her efforts to make blankets for hospitalized babies at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University. She took on the project after her husband Alan told her of the hospital's need for colorful, personally owned blankets for its newborn intensive care unit (NICU). Knowing his wife was an avid quilter, he suggested focusing her work on that need, which is how Pleasanton's "Blankets for Babies" project began four years ago.

At that time, Cleo Foster was working in the public information office of the Pleasanton Unified School District. She remembers thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could come up with one or two dozen blankets to deliver to the Palo Alto-based children's hospital at Christmas?” Co-workers learned of her goal, and soon--almost daily--lovely baby blankets were being delivered to Foster’s workstation. They were knitted, crocheted or quilted, in a wide variety of colors and patterns. That first year, Foster was able to deliver 85 blankets to the Lucile Packard Hospital, much to the delight of nurse Kate Teague who had been making as many blankets as she could to give to the babies that were in need of intensive care after birth.

“She’s awesome!" said Teague about Foster. “Cleo is a real good motivator and quite dynamic. We appreciate her ability to organize 'Blankets for Babies' coming from Pleasanton."

“This all started about 10 years ago with a unit-based sewing group here at the hospital,” recalled Teague. “They began making gowns for the babies in our care. I do not make clothing, but I do make quilts.”

In the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, there is a “primary nursing” philosophy. One nurse follows each baby and its family through the NICU process.

“I began making a quilt each month to give to the families I was working with,” said Teague. “The lady in the next bed saw one of the quilts I had made, and asked where it had come from. I realized then that every child in our care could benefit from having a homemade blanket. It took a few years to get official permission, and my daughter Sarah (now 14) is the one who thought up the name ‘Blankets for Babies’ for our project.

“These blankets make a big difference for the families whose babies are in NICU,” noted Teague. “This is a very technical environment, with lots of sterile equipment in the nursery, but when there is a colorful, beautiful blanket, the parents’ eyes go right to it, and all that other stuff melts away.”

However, Packard Children’s Hospital serves nearly 2,000 infants annually from all over the country. Teague soon realized that she could not keep up with the demand all by herself, so she contacted the Bay Area headquarters of Girl Scouts, seeking its help. 'Blankets for Babies' was listed in the project handbook the following year.

"Unbeknownst to me, some of the Girl Scouts made up fliers with my name and home telephone number, and they distributed these at quilt expos all over the area," Teague said. “That really was a huge help!” Besides the babies in her NICU in Palo Alto, Teague, who shares donated blankets with satellite hospitals in Fremont, Redwood City, and at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, estimated the need for blankets is about 2,000 a year. Donated blankets now come from Hawaii, New York, Florida, Tennessee and, thanks to Cleo Foster, many are made in Pleasanton.

“These blankets are very, very powerful,” said Teague. “Sometimes the infant's blanket is the only thing the parents get to take home.” She recalled one family with twins in NICU. The older twin died, and the family told her later that the quilt she had made for that child was framed on their nursery wall.

Foster and her Pleasanton friends learned that 24 x 30 inches is the best size for baby blankets. She meets monthly with a quilting group made up of friends and family. Each takes turns hosting the group in her home: Jaylene Groeniger, Sally Pace, Gwen Foster (Cleo’s mother-in-law), and a five-generation cluster consisting of Cleo’s sister-in-law, Karen Foster; Karen‘s daughter Hawa, age 12; Hawa’s grandmother, Marie Battaion, and Marie’s mother, Rene Battaion.

Last December, just before Christmas, four members of this quilting group delivered a record 300 blankets to Palo Alto. And so it grows

“This has all been by word of mouth,” explained Cleo. “I get parcels from people I’ve never met, donating amazingly beautiful blankets to total strangers.”

The latest delivery included blankets made by creative people in Texas, Sacramento and Hayward. Two years ago, a Tri-Valley resident heard about the project and told her fellow members at the Antioch Yacht Club. They invited Foster to be their guest for dinner and presented her with 150 blankets for babies made by club members.

Women are not the only volunteers creating blankets for babies. Juan Castro, who works in the Pleasanton school district’s maintenance department, already was making colorful pillowcases for the “Foster Dreams” project. When he heard about 'Blankets for Babies', he stitched up material featuring cowboys, hot rods, trucks and tractors, each backed with pre-quilted material. Another repeat donor from the school district is Assistant Superintendent Sandra Lemmons. Nurses in the neo-natal unit have fun matching each baby’s personality with an appropriate quilt or blanket.

When Foster read in the Pleasanton Weekly that ValleyCare Medical Center was planning an expanded neo-natal ward, she wasted no time in contacting Denise Bickert, director of surgical and maternal child services, to see if ValleyCare would like donated blankets. They were thrilled to accept the offer, and now 'Blankets for Babies' also delivers to ValleyCare 25-30 handmade blankets each month.

“You know that there’s a sick baby that’s going to get that blanket, and it warms your heart,” said Foster. “It’s why we do it.”

Now the group is filling ValleyCare’s request for matching blankets for twins and triplets who start their lives in the neo-natal unit.

“The staff just loves it” said Bickert. “It gives the families and their babies a little piece of home at a time when the parents are going through so much stress. We really, really appreciate the 'Blankets for Babies' volunteers. It’s a wonderful thing that they do.”

Bickert said the nurses select a blanket for each baby, and these are draped over the isolettes (specially-equipped cribs) to screen out the light and noise, adding, “It makes every baby’s bed look personal, and it is a keepsake for each family.”

The fact that parents also take comfort from the loving gift of blankets was very apparent recently when Foster and other local volunteers were unloading their latest delivery in the Palo Alto hospital parking lot. A man came over and asked, "Are you the ladies who make blankets for babies?" When they said they are, the man enthusiastically told them how much it had meant to him and his wife when their first-born child had been the recipient of one of their blankets a couple of years before. That blanket, he told them, was still a treasured part of their household. He was there visiting his wife and their second baby, newly and safely arrived. The Pleasanton volunteers urged him to select another blanket for the newest family member, and were delighted that he took his time selecting “just the right one.”

To give a blanket

The 'Blankets for Babies' group accepts home-made blankets on a regular basis from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays at the school district office, 4665 Bernal Ave. Although program founder Cleo Foster has left to become a Realtor with Keller Williams Tri-Valley Realty at 5994 W. Las Positas Blvd., Sue Connolly at the school district office is accepting the blankets and passing them along to the group. Foster writes a 'Thank you' note to each donor.

Scout organizations in Pleasanton have also joined in the project, as has the leadership class at Thomas S. Hart Jr. Middle School. Lisa Bertram, a science teacher at Foothill High School, heard about the effort. Herself the mother of a premature baby, Bertram told Foster that she did not knit, crochet or quilt, but she did have space to store the blankets awaiting delivery. Bertram’s students also became intrigued with the blankets they saw, and some of them have become blanket creators and donors.

“Just make it and we’ll take it!” said Foster smiling, when asked how interested people could join in the Blankets for Babies project. ValleyCare’s neo-natal unit gives away nearly a blanket a day, and Stanford’s hospital needs a whopping 1,700 blankets per year, so new volunteers are welcome to join in the project. Each donated blanket warms not only the newborn baby who receives it, but also the hearts of the parents, and the donor.

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