Holding tiny hands
T-R PHOTOS BY ROBERT MAHARRY Members of the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA Hobby Craft Club pose for a photo with Holding Tiny Hands Executive Director Damian Beard and his family in the party room on Tuesday morning. The club, which includes Damian's grandmother Marilyn Beard, has sewed over 800 hearts to be sent to families in the NICU at Des Moines hospitals.
Each heart comes with a special message from the women of the Y Hobby Craft Club.
T-R PHOTOS BY ROBERT MAHARRY Members of the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA Hobby Craft Club pose for a photo with Holding Tiny Hands Executive Director Damian Beard and his family in the party room on Tuesday morning. The club, which includes Damian's grandmother Marilyn Beard, has sewed over 800 hearts to be sent to families in the NICU at Des Moines hospitals.
Each heart comes with a special message from the women of the Y Hobby Craft Club.
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For about the last year, The Hobby Craft Club at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA, which has met weekly on Tuesdays for decades, has been sewing hundreds of fabric hearts to be sent to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Blank Children's Hospital and the Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines through an organization called Holding Tiny Hands. And there's a special connection, as the executive director of Holding Tiny Hands is Damian Beard, the grandson of Craft Club member Marilyn Beard.
According to Marilyn, the most recent count was 822 hearts sewed by members of the Marshalltown club. She explained that mothers put the hearts on their chest, and their scent attaches to it -- so when it ends up on the baby, it soothes him or her.
"It started last year, and we've been sewing and sewing and sewing," she said.
And for Damian, who grew up in Marshalltown until he was in sixth grade, the passion he has for his "full-time volunteer job" is deeply personal, as both of his children, Ellie and Beckham, were born prematurely. Ellie was born at a weight of one pound, 10 ounces at 25 weeks and two days, and she spent 96 days in the hospital.
"We were first introduced to holding tiny hands during that time. We had meals with other families, and we just built some connections there. But once we got out of the hospital, a few years later, that's when we decided we wanted to give back," he said.
The goal of the nonprofit organization is to "fill in the gap" of supporting parents and families of children who are in the NICU.
"What we do is we try to build that out through a couple different ways. Number one, we provide comfort items... We make hearts and quilts, and we bring those to the hospital to improve the circumstances for the families a little bit, make them a little happier," Damian said. "And then we also do community events where we get together with families on site at hospitals."
They're also working on a "NICU voices" program with interviews in a podcast forum allowing families who have had the experience to share what they have gone through with others. Damian, who now resides in Des Moines with his wife and children, said he is "so proud" of his grandma for her contribution to the initiative.
"I remember as a kid, being with her as she would come to Hobby Craft, and I didn't really understand how many women were just involved here in this community," he said. "But when my grandma said 'Hey, I think we can make a few hearts,' I didn't realize it was gonna be hundreds of hearts, and it has been a huge impact."
As he looks forward, Damian said he would love to expand Holding Tiny Hands' reach beyond Des Moines into Mary Greeley Hospital in Ames and help to facilitate and/or provide mental health support for parents from day one after the birth of their child. He also encouraged anyone with a gift for crafting to get involved with this most worthy cause.
To learn more about the organization, visit https://www.holdingtinyhands.org/.
Contact Robert Maharry at (641) 753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.