On Monday, the CroKnits got together for their weekly knitting and crocheting session at Chartwell Imperial Place Retirement Residence in Surrey.
The group of around 10 members has made 250 purple baby caps destined for B.C. Women’s Hospital to place on the heads of newborns.
They’re purple because that’s the colour used to raise awareness of Shaken Baby Syndrome as part of the Click for Babies campaign.
Along with the caps, new parents receive a video and information describing the “period of purple crying” — a period of time when infant crying increases, beginning at about two weeks old, peaking in the second month, and ending around the third to fifth month. The aim is to teach parents how to respond to this common period of prolonged crying, and the importance of never shaking your child.
“We got a letter from B.C. Women’s in June regarding the purple cap campaign,” said Jennifer Wasden, lifestyle and programs director at Imperial Place, which is home to 107 residents.
“Last year they distributed 9,100 of them. We have 250 hanging up in the lobby, and there are three more weeks to go (before B.C. Women’s collects them) so we hope we can squeak out 300.”
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![Sept. 19, 2016, SURREY, B.C. -- Part of a group of about 10 residents at Imperial Place retirement home in Guilford making little purple caps for newborns: (Clockwise from back left) Myrna Switaiski, Martha Schnider, Joan Burwash, Margarete Bausman - Submitted photo: Jennifer Wasden / Imperial Place [PNG Merlin Archive]](http://wpmedia.vancouversun.com/2016/09/sept-19-2016-surrey-b-c-part-of-a-group-of-about-10-re1.jpeg?w=640&h=651)
Clockwise from back left, Myrna Switaiski, Martha Schnider, Joan Burwash, and Margarete Bausman show off their handiwork.
“But this gives them such purpose,” she said. “Every afternoon we meet for an hour and a lot work on the caps in their spare time, too, which is great.
“Learning the patterns can be frustrating, but as one of our knitters said to me, ‘If this hat is going to save a baby’s life, then I’m going to do it.'”
Imperial Place residents were already doing community work when approached by B.C. Women’s.
Helping Others for Purposeful Engagement is an outreach program aimed at teenage mothers who want to return to high school.
Working with the Growing Together Daycare in Guildford, HOPE sends “baskets of love” to the moms (aged 13 to 19) and to their babies.
“In July, we delivered 357 lbs. of non-perishables,” Wasden said.
Image may be NSFW.
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