This is a maternity and newborn clothing and items program, to provide families with clothing and some supplies.
This program is for:
- families preparing for the birth of a baby who has a fatal diagnosis, and time with the baby is uncertain
- families undergoing medical testing and additional financial involvement that limits their funding for maternity and/or newborn items
- families experiencing a subsequent pregnancy after a loss and who are fearful about purchasing needed items
- families who endured a pregnancy loss or infant loss, and after careful consideration, choose to share their maternity and/or newborn items with other families through this program (please see the section below on contributing items)
- families who have not been impacted at all by pregnancy loss but who wish to use their “just like new” maternity and/or newborn items to provide this meaningful and special support to families enduring this difficult time.
- you can also use your local Love Cupboard as a chapter to receive bridal gowns to be recreated into infant burial gowns. You will need to comply and utilize our Legacy Swaddle Collection guide to do so, from The M0M Center, which is stillbirthday headquarters, to create uniformity among stillbirthday Love Cupboards of different locations.
To receive items:
- Each state has a listing of local Love Cupboard volunteers (we also have an international Love Cupboard). Contact your nearest Love Cupboard volunteer (within your state or country), and he or she will either decide to meet you in a central location such as a church or your local perinatal hospice facility or your hospital or doctor’s office (such as just after a prenatal appointment), or will ask for your mailing address and ship the items to you.
- You will receive items based on availability, with a maximum of 5 items total.
Each state is listed below (along withtheinternational listing), and families can check their state listing to see if there are stillbirthday Love Cupboard volunteers in your area.
If there is not a stillbirthday Love Cupboard already established in your area, you can join our team by submitting the contact form below. Please read our participation agreement:
To become a Love Cupboard volunteer:
- You will need to commit to holding a space in your home or easily accessible location that is dry and clean.
- You will need to commit to having a clean tub that seals shut – approximately a 30 gallon size.
- You will need to commit to having a smoke-free home, and that your Love Cupboard space is free from animal odors.
- You can petition your local community to donate items for your Love Cupboard. Please see our contributing information below.
- You will need to provide a valid email address for families to contact you, and you will need to check it regularly.
- You will need to agree to transporting the items for each family, which may including shipping and handling costs. These will be your own expenses as stillbirthday is not a 501c3. You are not expected to ship outside of your country.
- Each package for each family should approximately fit into a shoebox sized box, or plastic or cloth reusable bag. You can petition your local area to contribute any of these items to you for transporting the items to each family.
- I recommend purchasing Dreft, and either washing the items with this, or spritzing a Dreft & water solution with a spray bottle onto the items, particularly your tiny diapers if you are creating a sewing circle (see the printable information below).
- You will need to agree to printing out a stillbirthday brochure or business card and including this in each care package, in addition to any card or note you’d like to contribute as well.
- There can be more than one Love Cupboard in a city.
- You can run your Love Cupboard independantly, or collaborate with friends such as a local mom’s group.
- You can use your Love Cupboard to create and sell crafts or other relevant items, using the proceeds to purchase needed items for your Love Cupboard.
- You can exchange items through resources such as Craigs List to keep your Love Cupboard up to date with needed items.
- We have a Facebook page called Stillbirthday Love Cupboards which you are invited to join as we collaborate on ideas.
- If you believe you’re having a disproportionate amount of items and are looking to bring the amount down, you might gift to a local organization such as this one.
- Confirm your publication on our Love Cupboard Coordinators page.
To contribute items:
- Locate your nearest Love Cupboard.
- Items that can be submitted include maternity clothes, newborn clothes, size 0-3 clothes, all in boy, girl, or gender neutral styles, newborn diapers (cloth or disposable), baby wraps/slings, nursing pads.
- Items should be in “just like new” condition, clean and odor free.
- Items contributed are not considered donations and are not tax deductible.
- If you are using the Love Cupboard as a temporary storage place in your earliest days of grief, a written agreement stating exactly how long the items will be held at the Love Cupboard is important – stillbirthday is not liable for any damages or lost items. The Love Cupboard coordinator should contact you two weeks prior to the end date of your contract for holding items. Items not picked up within the timeframe set forth (stillbirthday recommends a 6 month period at a time) become property of the Love Cupboard, and may be given to other families.
Use this form to open your local stillbirthday Love Cupboard!
Print this handy information for new Love Cupboard Coordinators!
More resources:
Search Stillbirthday’s Love Cupboards by state:
International Love Cupboards (outside of USA)
