Hello everyone, my name is Wendy I’m 56, I’m a widow and a mother to 4 adult children, Chris, Jason, Stephanie and Brandon, 1 daughter in law Peng (who is married to son Chris), and one gorgeous granddaughter Amelia whose parents are Stephanie and her partner Corey. We have 3 fur babies Rottweilers Brutus, Liah and Buddy, I live in a little country town in the Hunter Valley Area of NSW. I first joined Angel Gowns for Australian Angel Babies Inc, back in July/August 2014 not long after it started, when the group popped up in my newsfeed on Facebook one night, I joined as a knitter and crocheter. I have been very lucky with my pregnancies even carried my twins right up to 37 weeks, before the Dr said "Well that’s it, there’s no more room for these two" and booked me in to be induced.
During my time with the charity, I have taken on some important managerial roles besides my love for knitting and crocheting, I now manage all our freight bookings, watermarking the photos, Recruiting Volunteer Manager, I’m also the Public Officer and Vice President, I’m State Manager for NSW and acting Manager for some other states and there’s always a lot of behind the scenes work that needs to be done. I have learnt so much while doing these roles, things I didn’t know I would need. I love getting to know our volunteers and have formed long lasting friendships and enjoy our daily chats.
My time with Angel Gowns for Australian Angel Babies Inc, is now shared with babysitting my beautiful granddaughter Amelia 3 to 4 times a week, which I thoroughly enjoy, this girl sure knows how to keep her Nan Nan on her toes.
I'm a mother of rainbow baby Phoenix and four beautiful boys including Sebastian, 6, a rambunctious wild child with ADHD, Noah 3, also a wild child with epilepsy. I started with Angel Gowns after having my third beautiful baby boy Charlie at 40 weeks of my pregnancy. We were unable to bring Charlie home. Angel Gowns were there for us with their amazingly beautiful packs. Volunteering with crocheting has helped me through this grieving process.
Hi everyone, I’m Jude from Howrah Tasmania. Happily married for 31 years to my gorgeous husband Geoff and we have 4 beautiful adult children (Krista, Jyeren, and our rainbow daughters Shelbi and Eboni) also part of our crazy family is our long-term foster daughter Storm. We have also been very blessed with 3 beautiful grandchildren thanks to our son Jyeren (Lily-Ann and Leonardo) ad foster daughter Storm (Leon-Daniel).
My children were all born early and with challenges but have grown into the most amazing adults who I have the privileged of being their Mum. Krista (35 weeks) with a VSD (hole in the back of her heart). Our son Jyeren (36 weeks) sadly was a twin, but we lost our beautiful angel, at 19 weeks. Jyeren was diagnosed with Asperger’s at about 8 years old and his health issues did not stop here when at 10 years he was diagnosed with a brain tumour which thankfully was successfully removed, then at 12 years he suffered a terrible bike accident, which put him into hospital for a long period of time. Due to juvenile arthritis he also required a double hip replacement before his 15th birthday. Our middle daughter Shelbi (33 weeks) spent many months in hospital after contracting whooping cough while in NICU causing her to be resuscitated 16 times. She is now a fully qualified teacher in QLD after studying and playing college soccer in USA for 7 years. Our youngest rainbow daughter Eboni (35 weeks), suffered from epilepsy and eczema, which meant many trips by ‘Angel Flight’ to Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital from Tasmania (Tasmania does not have a specialized ICU for paediatrics). She now is a currently studying Environmental Science at Monash University, after completing paramedics.
I work full time for the Department of Veterans Affairs, currently coordinating the Royal Commission responses for our branch, and volunteer for Tasmanian Fire Service in logistic and Evacuation/Recovery Centre coordination.
I am loving being a-part of this wonderful family and currently also have the privileged of been a member of the Board. There is nothing more rewarding then contribute to these beautiful families who have gone through the most unthinkable pain.
Hi I’m Deb, married to Noel for over 40 years and mother of six gorgeous daughters and Nanna to six grandsons and four granddaughters. I’m one of the fortunate ones to have been blessed with easy pregnancies and births and as my girls have grown older and now independent, I found myself with extra time on my hands. Angel Gowns came across my news feed one day and instantly I was drawn to the cause. It puts life into perspective for me, each time I make a tiny angel gown and think of the heartache for that family I am reminded of what’s truly important in life, and am grateful every day for the health and well being of my family. If my efforts with Angel Gowns can provide a parent with any small comfort at this devastating time then I feel truly honoured to do it.
Hi my name is Lyn Gibson. I’m a Mum of 3 girls and a grandma to 2 grandsons and 1 granddaughter. One day I was looking at Facebook and came across a post on Angel Gowns. They were looking for people to sew and make angel gowns. I was at a point in my life that I felt I had no purpose and thought this might be what I needed, to be able to help families in such a sad time of their lives. I have always loved to do craft and sew and when my girls had grown up there really wasn’t any need for me to sew. I contacted Angel Gowns and have been a member of this organisation for about 5 years now. Since joining I have not only sewn, I have also made all the other components for the packs and many thank you cards. I have met some lovely ladies through this group and some I’m sure will be lifetime friends which has been an added bonus from joining this group.
I’m a wife to David, mum to Mathew and Christopher and Mammar to our now 7 y/o grandson Xavier. As I creep up to the age where I can get a senior citizens card next year (the big 60) I find the older I become the more joy I get from helping others. I was raised in Warner’s Bay and the belief that it’s always better to give than to receive was deeply instilled in my by my mum and grandma. Volunteering has always been something I have done and found so rewarding, and I feel blessed to be a part of Angel Gowns where we can make the goodbyes of the parents and families just that little bit easier knowing their babies are cared about and look beautiful. I love what we do and am so very proud and honoured to be a part of this.