As part of a yearlong effort to provide quilts for Ann Arbor’s Brandon Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital inside University of Michigan Hospital, quilting groups have been busy creating quilts to cover the isolettes for premature babies.

Babies are flown to Mott Children’s Hospital from all over Michigan and neighboring states. The unit needs 1,200 quilts per year. To date, Kiwanis Clubs of Michigan, as part of its “Young Children Priority One” project, supplied more than 350 of those quilts, and the Kiwanis Club of Alpena has donated more than 100 of those 350.

“Young Children Priority One” addresses the the needs of children prenatal to age 5. Kiwanis Club of Alpena’s Kwilting for Kids program partners with Preemie Pals of Saline, Mich., to provide the quilts.

Quilts are usually 100% cotton, approximately 36 x 42 inches and are used to cover the isolettes. Quilts are all washed in very hot water before being used. The quilts help control humidity, light, temperature and sound, surrounding the babies in comfort. The family of each baby then takes the quilt home with them.

Kiwanis Club of Alpena welcomes “kwilters” to help with the Kwilting for Kids program by making basic block quilts, or any pattern of their choice. If you do not have fabric, backing material, or batting, Kiwanis Kwilting for Kids program will provide any or all of these items to you, as needed. The club’s goal is to provide a minimum of 100 quilts to Preemie Pals for their 2019-2020 program, which runs from October 2019 to October 2020.

To help with the program, contact Ginny Roland at 512-718-9592 or email: ginnyroland@gmail.com.