HOUSTON, TX – On October 12, Elizabeth Gauldin, who lives at Eagle’s Trace, planned a luncheon for the group of volunteers she brought together to make items for the bereavement group at the nearby Katy Memorial Hermann Hospital in Katy, Texas. Representatives from the hospital attended the luncheon and picked up the items the volunteers had made.

Beginning in early September, the volunteers knitted shrouds, crocheted small blankets, and painted memory boxes. These items are made for babies who are stillborn or who die at birth or any time after the first trimester of a pregnancy. Sometimes the baby is buried in the shroud or blanket. On other occasions, the family may want to place the shroud or blanket in the memory box to have as a keepsake. The memory boxes will be filled with items for the parents to take home with them: an appropriate poem, footprints of the baby if possible, a lock of the baby’s hair, and, on occasion, a photograph of the baby.

Elizabeth Holt, who lives at Eagle’s Trace and volunteers her time as part of this effort, says that this is an ongoing partnership with the hospital and she expects that the group of eight volunteers will grow as time goes on and more people move into the community.