Join / How To Help

Join simply means to help. Once you create an item and give it to an individual or organization, you have joined.

Please refer to the Hospital List that is included in the Care Wear Web site. Care Wear is already assisting the hospitals that are listed. For your convenience, the hospital name and address, the name of a staff liaison person, and the list of items that hospital wishes to receive are all compiled on the hospital list. You may send items directly to one of the participating hospitals or you may contact a hospital in your own community. To learn the needs of your local hospital, contact the Director of Volunteers, the Director of Child Life, the Nurse Manager of the Nursery or Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or the Director of Pediatrics. It is easiest for hospital personnel to respond to samples. It is recommended that you bring or send one of each size item that you wish to make. Label each with size and name of item. For example, Kimono/small, Kimono/medium, Kimono/large. After reviewing the samples, the hospital staff member can decide which sizes of what items can be used.

Yarn that may be washed in hot water with harsh detergents and disinfectants should be used for Care Wear projects. Feel free to vary colors with the season. Holiday colors, sports team colors, multi-color stripes, and pastels may be used. Wool yarn may be used for blankets, but should be labeled "Wool: Wash in Cool Water" so that these are distributed to infants and families that do not suffer allergies.

It is recommended that you package completed items in plastic bags in order to ensure freshness and cleanliness of each item. Do not add potpourri, sachet, or any fragrances. Do not use fabric softeners, if you wash completed items.

As more and more people learn of the needs of neonatal intensive care units at children's hospitals, some hospitals may be "flooded" with very tiny hats. Please consider making blankets, mittens, or other items and if you make hats, make an assortment of sizes. There are full-term infants in NICUs/ICUs, too.

You might want to use Care Wear patterns to make items for your local shelter. Often women and children have no clothing except what they are wearing. Hats and mittens or a scarf might be a welcome gift for a child. Or, you might want to contact social service organizations that work with poor families, unwed mothers, or families in need. Or, you might want to make lap blankets or shawls for geriatric patients at nursing homes.

Include your name and address on a Care Wear label in each package that you send or deliver to a hospital. Click for a PDF sheet of labels to print. Contact the founder of Care Wear.

Keep in touch by reading the Care Wear Volunteers newsletter found on this website. If you are unable to open and/or print the newsletter because it is a large document, contact Bonnie Hagerman at Carewear@comcast.net.

Contact the founder of Care Wear.

For a full list of patterns of multiple types, please visit the patterns page.

Sewing / Crafts

  • Preemie & Full-Term Hats
  • Kimonos
  • Bibs
  • Hug-a-Bears (large & small)
  • Diaper Shirts
  • Burial Gowns
  • Flannel Mattress Covers
  • Quilts
  • Burp Cloths
  • Fabric Toys
  • Incubator Covers
  • Finger & Hand Puppets
  • Booties
  • Medical Dolls
  • Neck Pillows
  • Walker Caddies

Knitting and / or Crochet

  • Hats
  • Booties
  • Mittens
  • Bedsocks
  • Shawls
  • Burial Gowns
  • Sweater Sacques / Sweaters
  • Blankets (30" x 30" or larger)
  • Edging on Receiving Blankets
  • Lap Blankets
  • Finger Puppets
  • Chemo Hats w/ Braids

 

Information