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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”.  For infants that translates into reducing new parents’ stress by providing much-needed baby essentials, honoring each new baby with blankets, quilts, teddy bears and other items made especially for them, and by including multiple baby board books and guidance on how to help babies acquire vocabulary words from day one.  We deliver our bundles in diaper bags which mothers can use for months to come.

Our Partners:

  • Natividad Medical Center

  • Catholic Charities

  • Siena House

  • Sun Street Center’s Pueblo del Mar Family Recovery Center

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

“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.



We are happy to be back in the classroom! During COVID, we delivered sterilized “kits” for the teacher to provide to the preschool parents, for use at home with their child, and/or to present in the classroom.  Now that we have been allowed back into the classroom, we have continued our relationship with the Pacific Grove State Funded Preschool in both their AM and PM program.

 

This year, we added 3 preschool classes at Martin Luther King Academy in Salinas to our program. We read a seasonal classic book to the students, create a related craft project, provide additional hands-on activities and then send each child home with that book for their home library.

Our Current Partners:

  • Pacific Grove State Funded Preschool, Pacific Grove

  • Martin Luther King Academy Preschool, Salinas

  
Our Past Partners:

  • Carmel Unified School District

  • Carmel Community COVID Coalition

  • St. Angela Merici Preschool

  • Little Bear Creek Preschool, 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

  • Salinas Fire Department

  • Costco Salinas

“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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