Members of Caring Hearts & Hands
Connie Vaughan
Every year, the third Saturday in May is Armed Forces Day, celebrated to honor all men and women currently serving in the military, as well as those who have served and sacrificed to defend our freedom. This year, Armed Forces Day was May 17, and Caring Hearts & Hands of Quail Creek again held a Red, White, and Blue Spectacular Baby Shower for enlisted men and women who are expecting a baby, at 162nd Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson. The shower is to show Quail Creek support for our Military.
This year’s theme was Noah’s Ark, and baby gifts were “showered” on 30 babies (18 girls, 6 boys, and 6 unknowns until birth). Caring Hearts & Hands Chair Jane Reichert, along with past Chair Kathi Krieg, led a group of 24 dedicated volunteers who shopped, crafted baby items, packed, caravaned gifts, and decorated the 162nd Wing’s cafeteria. Thirty laundry baskets were filled to the brim with a white noise machine, baby monitor, new clothes, handmade quilt/blanket, hooded towel/washcloth, bibs, and a diaper bag filled with hygiene products. And wait, there was a 13-gallon-size bag stuffed with diapers donated by the Arizona Diaper Bank. Each family also took home a decorated centerpiece with a stuffed animal and children’s book, Noah’s Ark Stops in Arizona, by Yasmin John-Thorpe, a Caring Hearts member.
A shower game was played, of course, with each family taking home a small raffle item and the opportunity to win a large raffle item, which had specialized handmade gifts (growth chart and quilts), crib and mattress, strollers, Pack N Play, high chair, baby bouncer, and a diaper cake with 160 diapers. At the end of the shower, parents were invited to peruse tables of gently used baby clothes and take as many as they needed, all donated by Green Valley White Elephant.
The mothers/fathers-to-be were overwhelmed with the generosity of our Green Valley community and the handiwork of so many Quail Creek women in taking the time to make baby items for babies they will never see.
A complimentary photobooth by Smile AZ was provided for expectant parents to have their pictures taken, and even our Caring Hearts & Hands members had fun taking pictures.
A big thank you goes out to all the in-kind and monetary donations from Quail Creek and Green Valley residents, Quail Creek Ladies Golf Association, Veterans Golf Club, the QC Lady Putters, the QC Quilt Covey, and Green Valley 131st American Legion. Corporate sponsors were Operation Homefront, who provided the catered lunch, Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona, Dolly Parton Imagination Library, and Smile AZ Photobooth.
Check out the Caring Hearts & Hands website at caringheartshandsqc.com for more shower photos and information.