One of the Prince George Telus Ambassadors hard at work sewing home made goods for babies

By Tommy Osborne

Community outreach

Volunteer group handcrafts goods for thousands of babies in need

May 7, 2024 | 3:29 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – For 18 years, the Prince George Telus Ambassadors have been hard at work every week sewing and handcrafting baby care packages for mothers in need. This group of volunteers gathers every Tuesday for various programs, with the baby bags being one of its main focuses.

“It’s been very rewarding to see where they go and who gets them. And we were delivering to a hospital and we actually got to meet a baby that was going to receive one of the the baby bags. And it really made us want to go back and do more and more and more, because we’ve seen that there was such a need,” said PG Telus Ambassadors Event Coordinator Anito Connell.

18 years ago when the program first started Diane Girard, the Vice President of the group, explained they only sent two bags to a local hospital to see if the program would be a good fit. However, the need became immediately apparent and the volunteers have been supporting mothers in need ever since.

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“when I got there the nurse, she started to cry, and she said the baby had to sit there wrapped up in the dad’s underwear. He had no blankets for the baby,” Girard said.

Girard estimates around 10 bags are made every week, so over the course of 18 years this program has helped thousands of mothers provide the necessities a new born baby needs. Each bag contains a wide array of home made items like blankets, plushies, jumpers, hats, jackets, and more, alongside hygiene necessities like diapers, shampoo, wipes, and creams.

“This baby was going home with nothing. It had been in the hospital ten days, so the nurses were so excited when we came with the baby bags, they were trying to pick out the perfect bag, like going through the quilts and looking at everything so that this baby would get the one they wanted,” Connell said when recounting one of many delivery trips she’s made.

Telus Days of Giving is taking place this month, and while the baby bag program is being highlighted, this is a weekly event that runs every Tuesday for the entire year, not just during Days of Giving month in May. For the last 18 years, the hardworking volunteers have been sewing and putting together these bags, but Connell explained this is one of several initiatives the group has taken on

“We do other things like the Heart Pillows and we do a Kits for Kids program, and all of that makes you feel good,” she said.

While it does take a lot of effort to make the goods and deliver them every week, the volunteers all say the work is well worth it as they know just how much these essential baby items mean to the mothers who may otherwise be going home with nothing.

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