In an effort to combat inequity from the earliest days of a newborn’s life, Welcome Baby USA will commit to an ongoing partnership with the Southampton Hospital Foundation to benefit Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s Kathleen D. Allen Maternity Unit. This exciting partnership expands Welcome Baby’s reach on Long Island’s East End by delivering packages of essential items to at least 120 families over the next year.
Welcome Baby USA is a nonprofit organization providing low-income pregnant women with a package containing all of the essential items her newborn will need in the first month of life. The package includes 220 diapers, one month’s supply of wipes, thermometer, rash creams, baby carrier, grooming kit, clothing, swaddle blankets, pacifiers, and more.
“Our Kathleen D. Allen Maternity Unit is a state of the art, family centered unit which is designed to meet the individual needs of mothers and their families. In the past year, the number of babies born at our Hospital increased to nearly 750. We have already presented our first Welcome Baby package to a mother and her family; and the appreciation and gratitude was overwhelming,” said Mirella Cameran-Reilly, the Executive Director of the Southampton Hospital Foundation.
Since 2018, Welcome Baby has distributed approximately 1,500 newborn packages to families in need around the country. With nearly 6 million American children under the age of 3 living in poverty and an ongoing pandemic magnifying physical, emotional, and financial woes, the need for essential services like this one grows more critical each day. In Suffolk County, the poverty rate stands at 7.12 percent with women between the ages of 25 to 34 as the most vulnerable demographic.
“Partnering with an institution like the Southampton Hospital Foundation is an absolute honor for us. We feel very connected to the East End community through previous work with the Children’s Museum of the East End, and this new partnership expands our reach and impact immensely. We are so grateful to be able to call the Southampton Hospital Foundation a partner,” said Sarah Steinhardt, the co-founder of Welcome Baby USA.
For more information visit www.welcomebabyusa.org and www.southampton.stonybrookmedicine.edu.