Bless a Baby

Why did Lottoland choose Bless a Baby?

Bless a Baby was founded in October 2002 when a few women became aware of a very specific need that existed, and still exists to this day, at the maternity units at hospitals and clinics in our local communities. Due to economic and other circumstances some new mothers are so poorly prepared for the arrival of their babies that they have absolutely nothing for them – no clothing, no basic toiletries, not even a wrapping blanket. Bless a Baby not only addresses these needs, but has made it a project of love and dignity too.

Our purpose is to provide new mothers with a beautifully crafted bag filled with baby clothing, essential toiletries for mom and baby in the first few days after birth, a blanket, and many other items according to our packing lists carefully designed over the years, and to make them feel loved and valued despite their personal circumstances. Our immediate goals are to fund the contents for the 400 bags we supply every month, while in the longer term we seek to expand our service as the need is never-ending. To this end, we have already established a sister branch of Bless a Baby in Bloemfontein. Bless a Baby is 100% staffed by volunteers.

Our volunteers sew our own nappy bags from donated fabric, after which various shifts of volunteers fill them with baby clothing, toiletries for mom and baby, warm blankets, knitted items made by other volunteers and even a soft toy and children’s book to help mothers feel that they and their babies are valued even if their circumstances are difficult. The birth of a baby should be a joyous occasion, and we want to contribute to that joy. After that the filled bags are distributed to our ten recipient medical facilities through a network of volunteers and some Western Cape Department of Health assistance of late.

Although Bless a Baby functions under the auspices of El Shaddai Christian church, who provide Bless a Baby with a workroom, a registered NPO number and other support, once the bags are dropped off at the various hospitals, we have no control over who receives a bag. That is entirely at the discretion of the sisters who work at the coalface in the maternity wards. We have carefully nurtured very close, valuable relationships with our contacts at each facility over the years.

Since the beginning of 2020 we have expanded our service to 400 packed bags a month. We have three different bags, each with a destined purpose: Bag of Hope, Bag of Love and Bag of Dignity. The contents of each are different. It means we have an ongoing need for baby clothing, toiletries and other essential items. A one-off donation enables us to purchase items we do not receive from donations, while recurring donations help us meet our financial needs every month.

From our long list of items tailored for each different kind of bag we need 591 babygrows (0-3 months), 526 facecloths, 378 jars of petroleum jelly, 280 tubes of toothpaste and a toothbrush for each to keep our 400 bags a month stocked, to name but a few examples. The numbers are staggering and we need it every month to maintain the supply to our 9 hospitals and 1 clinic.

We distribute our bags locally to 10 hospitals, namely Karl Bremer, Kraaifontein, Tygerberg, Wesfleur (in Atlantis), the Durbanville Clinic, Paarl, Mowbray, Delft, Eerste River and Bishop Lavis. Further afield to communities in need in places like Botswana, Kenya, Malawi and even Russia. One baby and one mother at a time – providing some form of rescue from an unfair and unjust start to life.

Since inception in 2002, we reached a magnificent milestone when we issued our 21 729th bag! That means that since inception we have had a positive – and possibly life changing – impact on at least 21 729 families, as that is the number of bags we have already distributed thus far.