Hawks Nest Wednesday Craft Group helps premature babies Myall Coast Myall Coast - popup ad Myall Coast News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - June 19, 2024 Sue and Cheryl knitting for premature babies in Queensland and NICU. BABIES across Australia are the beneficiaries of several ongoing projects by the Hawks Nest Wednesday Craft Group (WCG) ladies and their tireless efforts to bring a little more love and comfort to the newest Australians among us. One project recently produced two special quilts from donated materials, soon to be sent off to a birthing centre in Weipa, a bauxite mining town in far northern Queensland, upon the eastern side of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au The connection was first made between Weipa and the Myall Coast when the daughter of one of the WCG ladies accepted the role of midwife at the Weipa centre. “We want to help, and these quilts can really brighten up the standard hospital rooms,” Sue Patrick, one of the crafty ladies who helped make the quilts, told NOTA. “We were asked in May, and chose to use Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colours for the two quilts, as we were told that the clientele is predominantly of those backgrounds.” A similar project, with a similar focus on helping newborns into the world, is the collaboration with the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at John Hunter Children’s Hospital in Newcastle, which provides highly specialised, family-centred care for sick and premature newborns. “The Craft Group does all sorts of little things for the NICU,” explained Sue. “After a connection was made with NICU, the group put it out to all the members: ‘Who can knit what?’. “We get busy again whenever NICU reaches out via Facebook, like the quilts Helen has done for them, and the little blankets and booties that we make for the premature babies.” The Wednesday Craft Group also hailed the success of their recent Biggest Morning Tea pulling together an even $2000 to donate to the Cancer Council. “We had over 70 people here on the day, and want to thank all group members for their help,” Kris Whiteley said. The Group’s Mother’s Day raffles also raised $1164 for the community; however, they are still encountering flinty bureaucratic issues regarding their traditional setup outside Coles Tea Gardens. By Thomas O’KEEFE One of the quilts made for the Weipa birthing centre, in the colours of the Torres Strait Island flag. Another of the quilts made for Weipa, this one in Aboriginal flag colours. A standard wedding band gives perspective to just how small the booties are for premature babies.
