Gifts from the older residents in the community to the newest ones were handed out at the Wanaka Recreation Centre last Thursday (August 13). 

Expectant parents were collecting a ‘baby box’, a box full of essentials for newborns which are provided by the local Baby Box Charitable Trust. 

Each box contains a range of items - a merino sleep sack, hat and booties, reusable nappies and breast shields, a toy and blanket, and more. The box itself, which comes with a mattress, is intended to be used for daytime sleeping.

Trust chair Vanessa Van Uden said the intention of the trust, formed in 2018, is to provide a baby box to every expectant family in the Queenstown Lakes district. 

The local initiative is based on a successful model operating in Finland since 1938, where all expectant parents are provided a baby box to prepare for the arrival of their baby. The programme has been credited with helping to decrease infant mortality rates in Finland from 65 to three deaths per 1,000.

Vanessa said the goal with the trust was to connect new parents with others in the community, like the knitters and quilters who help make the clothing, to build more support systems, particularly for those who did not have family in the district.

Baby Boxes are filled with essentials for new babies - intended to be a gift to the district’s newest residents from the older ones. PHOTO: Supplied

“The people who receive them often don't have a support network here and they are just blown away that people will do this for them,” she said. 

Each box costs around $250 and has been funded by grants, with help from a small army of volunteers, committee members, knitters, quilters and bib makers. The Wanaka knit club has supplied much of the knitting this year, which Vanessa called a “huge help”.

Like all newly-formed charities, it has “taken a while to get up and running”. The trust began operating mainly in Queenstown but has now started to extend to Wanaka. Help in the form of monetary donations, newborn essentials or assistance from service groups - particularly in Wanaka - will help as many families as possible get baby boxes.

Any expectant parents in the Queenstown Lakes district can request a baby box: there is no criteria, no income testing and no questions asked. “It’s something we want to provide for everyone,” Vanessa said. 

Learn more or get in touch via the Baby Box website here or donate here.