Hearts provide comfort for grieving parents
Huggable Hearts provides bereaved families with a fabric heart made to the baby’s birth weight to hold in their grief.
Andrea Olliver-Thompson knows the pain of grieving for the loss of a baby and longing for physical mementos.
Her daughter Amber died in July 2014 after losing her fight to turner syndrome at 19 weeks’ gestation.
The grief was unbearable, Olliver-Thompson said, so she and her husband Nathan searched for remembrance ideas online.
She had a material doll made to Amber’s tiny birth weight of 100 grams and 10cm long. This provided comfort in her grief and inspired Olliver-Thompson to make something for other bereaved parents.
Huggable Hearts was launched in February 2015. The charity organisation provides a free service by giving grieving families a fabric heart filled with rice made to the baby’s birth weight.
This gives families something physical to hold once they have said goodbye to their angel.
“As heart-breaking and sad as it is having to do so many, it brings me great pleasure being able to pay it forward and help the parents and their families with the grief that comes with losing a baby or child. We know our hearts bring comfort,” Olliver-Thompson said.
A year has passed since Olliver-Thompson’s daughter Amber was born and she said although her grief is still new she finds that making the hearts is therapeutic.
She has made more than 160 fabric hearts for grieving families, with the help of her husband, family, friends and volunteers.
Huggable Hearts relies on donations through its give a little page and is currently fundraising for an embroidery machine and postage costs.
“The embroidery will add a special touch to our hearts with baby’s names and weight or anything that the parents would like on them,” Olliver-Thompson said.
A fundraiser movie night is set to screen The Intern on October 12 at Event Cinema in Chartwell. Additional fundraisers will be to the advanced screening of Jem and The Holograms on October 23, and the new Bond film Spectre 007 on November 9.
To book fundraiser movie tickets or to donate material contact Andrea on 0273472744 and huggablehearts1@gmail.com or visit givealittle.co.nz/project/huggablehearts.
