For more than four hours on Saturday, a 12-year-old girl will crochet caps for newborns that will be donated to charities to use in their education campaigns regarding shaken baby syndrome.
Isabella Galan, a seventh-grader at Immaculate Heart of Mary School, is hoping others will join her, her mother, a few classmates and others to crochet or knit the caps with them at Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church on Ratzer Road, or donate supplies the purple yarn needed to make the hats.
“Isabella’s thrilled and this has all inspired her so that she wants to make it a yearly event,” said Maria Galan, Isabella’s mother. “It’s such a positive day so we’re both really excited for Saturday.”
Isabella plans to donate the caps to Prevent Child Abuse in New Jersey, which will donate the caps to hospitals throughout New Jersey. The charity is a partner with Oklahoma-based Clicks for Babies, which is running the hat-making campaign.
“When you have a young person like her taking this on and helping us combat child abuse, it’s incredible,” said Gina Hernandez, the vice president of Prevent Child Abuse in New Jersey. “We’re so incredibly excited to partner with her and have her as part of our team.”
Isabella began knitting the caps after she learned about Clicks for Babies campaign and that some parents shake their newborn children and either kill them or permanently injure them.
“She was beside herself that people can really do it,” Maria Galan said.
In the past month, Isabella and Maria Galan have made 35 caps. Isabella has recruited her school’s knitting club to help make the hats and about half a dozen others have joined the effort.
The hats are meant to remind new parents that they should never shake a baby.
The Galan family will continue collecting hats until Sept. 27.
Supplies and finished caps can be donated at the Immaculate Heart church or Maria Galan can be contacted by emailing her at GirlOnDuty@hotmail.com.
Click here to read the original version of this article.
Scott Juceam is one of the leading advocates against Shaken Baby Syndrome. Scott’s life changed when his daughter Hannah was shaken to death by her nanny in 2006. Since then, Scott has dedicated his life to preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome and child abuse.
To learn more about me, please visit my website at www.ScottJuceam.com or you can click here.
Scott Juceam 