After her daughter Chance was stillborn at eight and a half months, Nikki Howden decided to start a group to help other families going through the heartache of losing a child.
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What started as simply a way honour her daughter and to provide families in the local region with a burial clothing service, Chance’s Clothing Project has grown into a craft group with nearly 200 members helping families worldwide.
The group had a small gathering on Tuesday with members from all over Australia meeting for the first time.
“Chance’s Clothes Project, it started in December of 2011, it was just originally me trying to gain the support of a couple of our local sewers and knitters and its grown from there,” Nikki said.
“We ended up then having a Facebook page… We’ve probably got nearly 200 crafters now and that’s from all over Australia.
“We’ve even had donations come in from the US and the UK.”
Members create specialised, colour-coordinated packs measured to fit babies of a specific gestation that are then given to 50 hospitals across Australia.
“So you might have somebody who specialises in gowns, somebody who only knits booties so we will always be able to match them up with somebody else’s to create a whole set that contains the blankets, wraps, gowns, bonnets, boots, everything that is needed for that baby for their burial,” she said.
Nikki said that while grieving families are benefiting from the service, the knitters themselves get something out of being a part of the group.
“I thought that it was all going to be a one way thing, you know just for the needs of the stillborn baby and the family, but it’s not, these ladies get so much out of it because they feel valued, their skills are actually being used and their being appreciated for what they do,” Nikki said.
“Many say they have tried to donate to their local hospital or they don’t know how too but coming through a centralised service like we have now, we can make sure it gets packaged up and sent out to the hospitals in need.
People want to do good and they’ve got the skills a lot of them just don’t know where or how to do it.
- Nikki Howden
“I think that’s how some of the women have been drawn to it as well, cause they have experienced loss themselves many years ago or the loss of a grandchild.”
One member who knows the pain of losing a child first-hand is Sue Jay from Melbourne, who met the group for the first time Tuesday.
“I lost my very first baby nearly 50 years ago at 12 weeks,” she said.
“Quite often when I’m crocheting one of these I think to myself, these parents have probably just found out that their pregnant and you know it’s going to end in 12 weeks or 20 weeks and that’s just so sad.”
Chance’s Clothes Project is an auspice of the Cowra Information and Neighbourhood Centre and meets up there on Tuesdays from 1pm till 3pm.
