Lullaby Connection helps families with infant supplies

Friday, Dec. 14, 2001 | 3:50 a.m.

Reach Lullaby Connection at lullabyconnection.org or 521-1061.

Last spring Darla Hayden had no idea that she would soon be up to her ears in diapers and layettes -- hundreds of them.

Hayden is the founder of Lullaby Connection, a community-wide volunteer group that collects needed infant clothing, linens, bibs and bottles and delivers them to infants and mothers in need.

Since it began in March, the Lullaby Connection has donated more than 700 baby layettes to groups such as Family to Family Connection, Baby Your Baby and Child Haven.

"Each agency I go to, they could use at least 100 outfits," Hayden said. "Our goal is to never say, 'No.' "

The effort sprouted when Hayden volunteered at University Medical Center and learned that some infants born to families in need had nothing to take home with them when they left the hospital.

So Hayden made a few phone calls and talked to people at her church, the LDS Valle Verde Ward, asking if anyone might be able to help provide infant items to families.

Suddenly, everyone was coming forward.

"People want to help," Hayden said. "They just want to know where the need is."

The group has received help from students at Lummis Elementary School, from Eagle Scouts, church members and individuals, she said, as well as "a couple dozen seniors who crochet."

But as quickly as babies in need are born, the layettes are given out, creating more demand.

"There's a huge need in the city in general for infant supplies," said Sharon George, manager of Family to Family Connection, a grant-funded, statewide program that offers home and hospital visits to new mothers and provides parenting skills and networking opportunities for families with babies 1 year old and younger.

"There are some infants who have very, very little," George said. "We have families looking for clothes, looking for diapers ... There's a limited number of agencies that can supply those kinds of things.

"We saw a huge increase right before Thanksgiving, when people realized there would be couple of days they wouldn't be getting diapers and formulas. We were so low on our supplies, (Lullaby Connection) stocked us up."

And with recent worker layoffs in the Las Vegas Valley, Hayden said that she expects the need to grow.

"You'll probably see more need as people lose jobs, live in apartments, don't have electricity."

The group also collects donations of books or magazines and donates them to organizations that help build up libraries at at-risk schools. Travel-size shampoos, soaps, Band-aids and sunscreen are collected to distribute to families living in shelters.

Hayden said that the organization would prefer the tangible items, rather than a donation of money.

"We want your heart, not your wallets," she said. "You know 100 percent of that item is going to a family in need. It can just be one thing -- a blanket, a bootie or a hat."

Even white blankets are sought for infant burials, Hayden said.

"They're all dressed in white. They look like angels. It helps with the grieving process."