2023 Fundraising achievements

We are still in the process of communicating with hospitals to donate the remainder of the funds raised however we have recently donated to Wellington Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Wellington donation (10X Breast Pumps):

Super excited to be able to share that the PKC community has purchased 10 hospital grade breast pumps for Wellington NICU

These were bought with the profits of the merch recently sold Really happy to be able to support Wellington, we regularly donate knitting to them and I love working with their team. This year they indicated that these were the items that they needed most.

Here’s some words below from the team:

We are very grateful to the Premmie Knitting Club for their generous donation of 10 state of-the-art breast pumps to NICU.

These pumps will ensure that all of our parents have access to a breast pump whilst on the unit and will also provide us with the capacity to loan pumps to parents to take home for short periods while they get breast feeding established.

This wonderful gift is a huge help in supporting our parent’s to produce breast milk for their premature or sick babies, thus giving them the best chance of recovering and thriving. Thank you Premmie Knitting Club!

Special thanks to Justine at The Little Miracles Trust for helping to facilitate the purchase and to Jane and her team at Wellington NICU.

Donation to Well Foundation (Equipment for north shore hospital):

We have donated to the Well Foundation multiple times over the last six years, most recently contributing to a piece of life saving medical equipment for the North Shore Special Care Baby Unit.

Words from The Well Foundation:

The Premmie knitting club have been amazing supporters of Well Foundation over the last few years, raising money for items required by the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) at North Shore Hospital

Most recently they donated over $3,000 to purchase a video laryngoscope intubation tool. This piece of equipment helps doctors identify and respond to unpredicted difficult airway cases faster with fewer attempts, and confirm intubation success sooner, with greater confidence. This helps to ensure success at intubation for our vulnerable infants.

North Shore Hospital SCBU had this to say ...

"The team have been so excited to receive this piece of equipment as a donation. It was much needed by our service. This has enabled difficult intubations to be made easier, which helps alleviate additional stress on an infant that is already in a critical condition.

One infant already has been successfully intubated using this device, the doctor was so thrilled at how it performed. Having this piece of equipment made a stressful situation totally less stressful for her. There will also be opportunities to utilise it when we perform surfactant administration.

We are so very grateful – a huge thanks from the team at NSH SCBU.”

Finally, thanks again to everyone who bought merch in 2023, you’re making an amazing difference alongside the knitting we regularly donate We couldn’t do this without the support of everyone who buys a t-shirt or shares a post about it!

2022 fundraising achievements

1. The purchase of one whanau sofa bed for the North Shore Special Care Baby Unit. This provides families with an additional space to bond with their baby and help in the transition from hospital to home life. I know from speaking to parents who have been in a special care unit that these beds are really helpful. This has been paid for and the hospital is awaiting delivery.

2. Purchase of six specialist high stools (not on wheels) for the Christchurch Women’s Hospital intensive care nursery to support both parents and staff to sit close to their babies when in the incubators. To touch, talk and be close to them when attached to many monitors. These are specialist stools covered with washable fabric and they are in use at the NICU now.

1. Purchase of wool for our knitting community. The wool has been purchased using generous donations separate to the fundraising merchandise. The wool will enable us to knit more items for hospitals across New Zealand and we will be distributing it to our network over the next month.