An interfaith group collected $600 in gift cards, along with a range of baby items to donate to new mothers in the lead-up to Easter.
A Los Gatos Catholic congregation, St. Mary of The Immaculate Conception, has been organizing the drive since 2003, and has teamed up with local Mormons to gather clothing, blankets, diapers, bottles and other items in recent years.
“The purpose of the collection is to provide items for newborn babies who otherwise would leave the hospital without basic necessities,” said Lorraine Hepworth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, noting the ensembles are called layettes.
“The completed layettes were delivered to or picked up by pregnancy agencies, Birthright, Heritage Home, Juan Diego Birth and Beyond, Real Options, Sacred Heart Community Services, and Santa Maria Urban Ministries.”
Hepworth partnered with Jane Najour, Jan Amaral and Barbara Brothers to organize the volunteer project.
Najour is in charge of pastoral care at St. Mary’s, Hepworth notes.
“She’s just a wonderful person,” she said. “She helps with all the funerals; she helps with homeless people.”
The event was called Lenten Layette, in reference to the Catholic lent season.
While Hepworth says she’s not really familiar with all the ins-and-outs of that particular aspect of her friends’ faith, she said she’s been impressed by their commitment to service when they’ve worked together on the project.
“What’s lovely is we have a lot of fellowship with each other,” she said. “We’ve become such good friends through it.”
However, this year will be the last with Amaral and Brothers at the helm, Hepworth reveals.
“They’re retiring from it,” she said, adding that doesn’t mean they’ll forget about the initiative in future. “They’ll certainly help to support it.”
Focusing on a project for new mothers was a good fit during spring, she added.
“Spring is about new life,” she said. “I think that’s why they chose Easter to do this.”
This year local residents donated a total of 185 layettes.
