Christmas care for families in need

December 18, 2024December 17, 2024 by Metropol No Comments

This Christmas, hundreds of parents will be forced to choose between spending time with family or their sick child in hospital. It’s a decision no one wants to make.

Canterbury mother Kimberley had her daughter eight weeks early in December 2021. Her local hospital didn’t take on babies younger than 34 weeks, so the Temuka-based mother had to travel the two hours to Christchurch for the birth and her first weeks of motherhood. During that time, she received support from award-winning charity One Mother to Another, including a care package. “It made the foreign world we had been thrown in less lonely and made us realise we had other support while we were away from home,” Kimberley shared.

The charity, founded by Joy Reid, supports over 6000 parents and whānau with hospitalised newborns and children South Island-wide. Christmas is no exception. This year, Joy and her team are preparing to support hundreds more families while others enjoy the holiday. Their signature care packages provide practical and emotional support, and a handwritten note.

In early December, One Mother to Another volunteers undertook their biggest packing day ever, making 1310 care packages to be distributed across 16 South Island hospital wards during December and January. Special packages will be given out on Christmas Day, and 900 small gifts were crafted as a thank you to nursing staff.

“It’s hard enough being in hospital with a sick child during the year, but to be there over Christmas and during the holiday period is that much harder,” says Joy, who founded the charity with another mother, both having experienced the stress of caring for a sick, hospitalised child. Unfortunately, it is the reality for many during the festive season. “We don’t want them to feel unseen or invisible. We want them to know they are not alone.”