Baby box charity’s $1 million milestone
Jo Alderdice cries happy tears every day.
The Whitby woman runs Little Sprouts, a charity that provides comprehensive baby packs to the families of newborns and babies identified by social workers as needing help.
Little Sprouts gave away its first baby box, packed with everything a baby needs at birth, in October 2013 and last month hit a major milestone: it has given away $1 million worth of baby items.
And that’s only a conservative estimate. Each box has an estimated value of $1200 and it has given away about 900 to date, but the $1 million doesn’t include the value of cots, strollers and other extras gifted, Alderdice says.
‘‘Even though I know it to be true myself, you still keep going over it and in general the whole thing is hard to comprehend sometimes.’’
She says the reason she runs Little Sprouts is simple.
‘‘In my mind every child has the right to have the best start in life. The way the community and businesses and all these incredible people took to it ... that’s been really surprising and really amazing.’’
It is dependent on volunteers who donate and hand-make items as well as money, and others who help sort and create the boxes.
Birthright Wellington social worker Kaitlin Davies is often present when families open their boxes.
‘‘It’s a real experience,’’ she says. ‘‘It’s really heart-warming to see. When you walk into someone’s home, and it’s a single parent and their baby, just the look on their faces of the size of the box to begin with ... they get so overwhelmed and amazed with the size of it.
‘‘And then you open it up and it’s full with all these items that are so needed. Most of them get tears in their eyes.’’
Alderdice has never met a family Little Sprouts has helped because the boxes are given out through social workers and agencies, but she knows how much of a difference they make.
‘‘You do something like this and you realise just how incredible people are and how everyone surrounding you has huge hearts and they want to make a difference. I would be one of the very few who gets to cry happy tears every day, just because of the wonderfulness of people.’’
For more information see littlesproutsnz.org.