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What We Do

Our Baby Bundles

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For the Christ Child Society of Monterey Bay, love is the force behind “challenging poverty one child at a time”.  That translates into reducing new parents’ stress by providing much-needed baby clothing, diapers and essentials. We honor each new baby with hand-made blankets, quilts, teddy bears and other items made especially for them by our "Yarns and Stitches" group. We include baby board books and guidance on how to help babies acquire vocabulary words from day one.  Our baby bundles are packed in backpack diaper bags which parents can use for months to come—and which double as changing tables and mini-cribs.

Our Partners:

  • Natividad Medical Center

  • Catholic Charities

  • Siena House

  • Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula

  • Coastal Kids Home Care

  • Genesis House

  • Parenting Connection of Salinas

Volunteer Opportunities:

  • Join our Yarns & Stitches group and enjoy fellowship among knitters, crocheters and sewers

  • Create and donate to our bundles blankets, caps, quilts, teddy bears, receiving blankets, sweaters and burp cloths

  • Shop for deals for bundle essentials and car seats and procure with Christ Child funds

  • Inventory, pack and deliver our bundles to our partner agencies

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“Your adorable bundles of love touched many lives this year. They brought comfort and hope to moms and babies impacted by the storms from Pajaro all the way to San Ardo. Families who lost their belongings were able to feel the love and prayers from your homemade blankets and teddy bears. The diaper bags are a very practical item and were a big hit in the community too! They all helped our families heal and soothe at times of such despair. Please share our deep gratitude for dedicating your skills and time to comfort mom and babies in our community. Over and over, I heard from the moms say that the bundles are a gift from the heavens."

Angela Di Novella, MSW
Executive Director, Catholic Charities Diocese of Monterey

—  Name, Title

Our Early Childhood Literacy Program

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Early childhood word acquisition and literacy are critical to a child’s success in school and life.  Yet very few under-resourced preschoolers have adequate access to books outside of school.  We have established a preschool literacy program to address this need.


Our goal is to build personal libraries for our preschoolers. Our approach is to visit under - resourced preschool classrooms, read a seasonal classic book to the students, provide a related activity and create a craft project to reinforce the book. Each child is then gifted that book for their own home library.

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We are pleased to annouce that we have added 4 new preschool classes to our program since last year. We now serve 140 students in 7 preschool classes throughout the Monterey County Area. Our dedicated volunteers have engaged the imaginations of so many children throughout our local community. 

Our Current Partners:

  • Pacific Grove Inclusion Preschool

  • Monterey Child Development Center Preschool

  • Martin Luther King, Jr.  Academy Preschools, Salinas

  • Santa Rita Preschools, Salinas

Volunteer Opportunities:

  • Preparing Craft Kits and Activities at our Craftoramas

  • Reading to Preschoolers

  • Aiding with In-Classroom Lessons

"We appreciate so much the involvement of the Christ Child Society and the quality of your interactions with our children, families and staff. Plus, our children and families are very happy taking home their own book!”

Rosie F Sanchez, Child Development Services Coordinator, Early Learning Program, Monterey County Office of Education

Our Car Seat Program

It is a requirement for discharge of an infant from a hospital that the family have a car seat in the car in which the baby will be transported.  For the lowest income families, this can mean borrowing a car seat and later travelling with the baby without protection, or getting a used car seat that may no longer be adequate to protect the baby.  Until recently, Natividad with third party support provided about 30 car seats a year to families with the lowest means--and each of these families also received one of our baby bundles.

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When the third party funding for the car seats ended, the Christ Child Society determined we should fill the gap.  In 2022, we are prepared to help 60 babies go home from Natividad in top of the line Graco 4-in-1 car seats installed for safety by the Salinas Fire Department before the baby's birth. This car seat will protect the baby from his or her first car ride until they age or weigh out of a car seat, saving the family from having to purchase bigger car seats as the baby grows.  Each baby to receive this lasting gift will also receive one of our baby bundles.

Volunteer Opportunities:

  • PIcking up Car Seats from Costco

  • Delivering Car Seats to the Salinas Fire Deparment

  • Committee Leadership

Our Partners:

  • Natividad Medical Center

  • Catholic Charities

  • CHOMP

  • Coastal Kids Home Care

“We appreciate the Christ Child Society of Monterey Bay and its consistent commitment to babies at Natividad over the last 4 years.  The families who receive the Christ Child Society bundles are the most under-resourced of our clients, and for them these bundles are not only necessary but convey to them a sense of caring and support at what can be a vulnerable time. It makes all the difference in the world that, thanks to this new program, we can now offer many of these families a top-of-the line car seat which the Fire Department will ensure they know how to use and install. We are very happy to move forward with this new partnership in 2022 and believe it will promote health, safety and well-being in our community.” 

April Ritchie, Director of Women's and Family Services, Natividad Medical Center

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