Select a region
A charitable retailer has donated a wedding dress to a local charity so that it can be turned into “angel pockets” and tiny satin gowns for small stillborn babies.
The donation was made by Acorn to Philips Footprints, which was set up by bereaved parents Jo and Paul Nash in 2008 with the aim of helping others through baby loss through peer support and the creation of 'memory boxes'.
Each year, they donate around 20 of the special boxes, which include hand and footprint kits and ceramic hearts to help the families remember their little one, as well as a baby blanket and baby clothes.
However, if the babies are too small or fragile to be dressed, they are given tiny satin gowns or 'angel pockets'.
Pictured: An example of the memory boxes Philip's Footprints gives to grieving parents.
The angel pockets are created by volunteers using material from wedding dresses donated by islanders.
“Some of the babies are quite small and their skin is fragile so parents can put them in the pocket. It’s like a little cocoon," Jo explained to Express.
“It’s very meaningful for parents that their babies have something made for them. For someone to care enough to make them, it’s a recognition of how important their baby is.
"You can’t buy anything like this, especially for the small babies.”
The latest wedding dress donation comes after Acorn Enterprises, which runs the 1,600sqm Reuse Centre in Trinity, found itself with too many wedding dresses.
Members of the social enterprise took to 'Journey to Zero Waste' - a Facebook group with over 2,600 members where people share eco-friendly tips - to ask islanders for ideas about what they should do with the dresses.
When someone suggested donating one of the dresses to Philip's Footprints to create angel pockets, they got in touch with the charity right away.
As Jo explained, Philip’s Footprints only needs a few dresses a year, as one is enough to create as many as six pockets. They also prefer traditional styles with satin or silk rather than more modern ones.
Jo therefore picked a dress with “a lovely big skirt” at Acorn, explaining that while Philip's Footprints would only use the skirt fabric, nothing would get wasted.
The netting underneath will go to a primary school to use for an art project, while the bodice will be donated to a local amateur dramatics group.
Pictured: The angel pockets are for small babies who are too small or too fragile to be dressed.
“It’s nice to see more and more charities working together,” Jo said. “Local charities are very good at their collaboration. I think the community likes to see that you’re being nice to everyone else.”
Jo explained that Philip's Footprints also recently received a donation of white Christmas trees from Love Thy Neighbour, while Beresford Street Kitchen provided the catering for a recent course the charity organised.
Philips’s Footprints has also worked with local dental charity Super Smiles on a toothbrush recycling scheme.
The charity also provides memory boxes to Family Nursing and Home Care, which runs a Children’s Palliative Care Pathway, and other items to Jersey Hospice Care.
It also makes sure to raise awareness of other local charities, such as the NSPCC and Family First, in the Wellbeing Wallets they distribute to expecting mums as part of their Safer Pregnancy Project.
“There are more and more charities working all together and it’s not distracting from the work we do,” Jo said.
“It’s nice to be nice.”
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.