At Sydney's Deaf Community It's All About Giving

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
20 Jul 2010

From l to r: Sue Lansley, Murreall O'Connor,
Nola Lawlor, mary Profilio

For more than three months members of the craft group at Punchbowl's Ephpheta Centre knitted, sewed and stitched. The result was 90 tiny handmade gowns for premature babies along with supersoft baby rugs and little caps for the premmies made of the finest wool.

"The gowns and little caps are already in use at our Intensive Care Unit at Westmead Hospital and at the Neo Natal Intensive Care Ward at Nepean Hospital," says a grateful, Adrienne Pearson, General Manager of Ronald McDonald House at Westmead. "We have never had our own little handmade gowns for premmies and we are thrilled."

Adrienne points out that not only are staff at both hospitals delighted with the gowns, rugs and caps but so too are the families of premature babies who usually have no clothing small enough for the tiny newborns who arrive early and need extra special care."

The 15 regulars of the craft group which meets each week and varies in number from 15 to 25, are all profoundly deaf. Most were born deaf and although they have hearing children and grandchildren, the Ephpheta Centre is their life line, not only for pastoral support and a chance to celebrate Mass in Auslan (Australian sign language) but as a great place to get together and have fun.

"Our craft group started with just six of us and it was Shirley, who sadly has now passed away, who started it as a way to help an elderly widowed member of Ephpheta's who missed her husband and wasn't coping very well," Murreall O'Connor remembers.

That was more than nine years ago and since then the group has grown in size and strength with members expanding their skills to include sewing, patchworking, rugs, knitting and most recently, handmade cards for families to send home to their loved ones.

Members of Ephpheta's Craft Group

The majority of the women in the group are between 60 and 80 years old, and with most of them proud grandparents, they are all veterans at making baby clothes. But they admit this is the first time they have focussed on tiny gowns for premmie babies.

Created in extra fine, extra warm Winciette flannelette, the gowns were specially designed with snap locks at the shoulder so the premature newborns could be dressed without having to have their arms pushed into sleeves or the garment pulled over their heads.

Along with gowns, rugs and caps for premmies, Ephpheta's craft group also produced 100 handmade cards so children who stay with their parents at Ronald MacDonald House at Sydney's Westmead Children's Hospital can send them to grandparents and loved ones.

"Many parents with sick children have to bring their other children with them, and the cards are for those children who are well but want to keep in touch with grandparents, school friends and others back home while they are here at Ronald McDonald House," says Adrienne who says the efforts of Ephpheta craft group have gone a long way to making Westmead's Ronald McDonald House not just a place for families to stay, but a home.

"Helping others is important and is a part of our faith," says Mary Profilio, a grandmother and long-time member of the Ephpheta Centre as well as being an active member of the Deaf Catholic Association Council which promotes religion and education for the deaf within the Archdiocese of Sydney. "Last year we put on a Fun Day and donated the proceeds to the Breast Cancer Council, and this year we decided to put our energies towards helping the families and sick children who stay at Westmead's Ronald McDonald House. So we called up and asked what they needed and set to work."

While the group were experienced knitters and sewers, they admit making cards for children to send to their friends and family, presented a challenge.

"None of us had any experience making cards. But two of our members volunteered to find out what was needed and came back and taught us how to use paper cutters, cardboard and how to create designs and use embossing and sequins and whatever else took our fancy," says Sue Lansley.

Once the cards and premmie gowns, caps and baby rugs were completed, Ephpheta's craft group headed for Ronald McDonald House at Westmead where they were given a tour, met the staff most of whom are volunteers and learned how their wonderful gifts would be used.

While they were there, a huge donation of towels arrived which had staff at Ronald McDonald House very excited. "But the towels needed labels so we volunteered to sew those on," says Nola Lawlor. Like her husband Stephen, who is the Director of Ephpheta and also profoundly deaf, Nola is an active and long time member of the craft group and says the towels were returned to Westmead two weeks later, each one carefully stitched with its own identifying label.

"Doing something for others makes you feel good and knowing you can actually make a difference to someone else is very special and I think we benefit more than the people we do things for," says Mary.