Help Us
“Every time you spend money, you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want,” said Anna Lappé. We’d like to add “and holding onto an opportunity to lessen the darkness and illuminate the universe.”
Fund Raising
This year’s fundraising effort will kick off on November 20 through December 20, 2021, to raise funds to encourage NICU kangaroo care (i.e., skin-to-skin contact between parents and infants to foster controlled gentle stimulation and bonding with their preemie(s) in the hospital). Toward this end, we will be donating new medical-grade recliners for the St Joseph’s Children’s Hospital NICU in Paterson, New Jersey! It is important that caregivers have the appropriate seating to accommodate the medical interventions needed and be in a comfortable and safe position with their preemies. It is best for them to be partially or fully reclined and at present, there is only one old recliner borrowed from another unit that is in constant use.
Our 2021 goal is to raise monies for the special recliners and to keep our website updated and active so we hope we can count on your support! We have already received a lead gift from one of our volunteers and her husband to shine a light on this fundraiser! Thanks to Sarah and Michel, we now have $3,300 to go! If you’d like to make a donation, feel free to do so in one of three ways, and don’t forget to consider your matching gift option if your company has one available! All donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by the IRS. Send your donation through
- our donation page
- our Facebook page for Giving Tuesday on November 30
- mail a check to The Tiny Star Foundation at 29 Mount Pleasant Rd in Morristown, NJ 07960
Please consider sharing this message link via email with your friends and family or on social media. We are a small volunteer-driven agency with no paid staff so your help in spreading the word will be greatly appreciated!
Our 2022 fundraising plan is quite unique! We would like to promote NEW ways you can help us to raise funds, decorate the NICUs and our holiday cocktail party fundraiser and support our families in need. Commencing January 5, 2022, through November 1, 2022, we will be accepting tax-deductible donations of preloved and new December holiday decorations including current, vintage and antique ornaments, tree toppers and skirts, holiday signs, stockings, decor items, trays, dishes, serving pieces and mugs. We are also seeking vessels for arrangements, winter-themed art, and toboggans, sleds, skates, skis, snowshoes, artificial garland, trees and wreaths, electric and battery-operated lights, electric trains, battery operated only candles, lanterns and ribbons! Please note that the only preloved or new December holiday-themed clothing we can accept is for sizes Preemie-3T in good condition.
Due to storage space limitations, health and safety precautions and expected use, we are unable to accept the following lovely related items at this time: NO holiday bedding, towels, candles, throw pillows, blankets, rugs, paper products, gift wrapping, adult or child clothing or personalized items.
Please contact us at 908.800.3308 if you have questions and to make arrangements to drop off or ship items. Our capacity to pick up items is limited to coordinating for one day, once a month with advance notice. Please note we can only accept brand new toys, games and puzzles, and holiday linens in their original packaging.
Stay tuned for more information about our December holiday events! Support us by donating the items above that you no longer need or want, conduct a drive for new and used items listed above, share our web address and information with others, volunteer in person or remotely or join us in promoting awareness about pregnancy and perinatal loss, the challenges preemies and their families face, and the need for improved and expanded programs to meet their emotional, psychological, physical and financial needs. Your small but mighty acts of kindness and generosity really do add up!
Donate
Don’t just wish upon a star, help it shine!
Premature births are the number one killer of babies in our nation and 1 in 10 babies in the USA are born too soon at 34 weeks or less. This totals almost 400,000 tiny new lives, and the premature birth rate in our country is higher than in many developing countries. In New Jersey, the preterm birth rate is disparate, 8.5% for white women, 8.8% for Asian women, 10% for Latinas and 13% for Black women. The death rate in New Jersey is 4 per 1,000 births. We must do better!
Your dollars help families get the related information, resources and emotional support they need during these most difficult and challenging times, and help support high-quality family-centered hospital NICUs. Thank you for making us your charity of choice.
Wish List
Please contact us if you want to fulfill the wishes of a specific family in need. Our current holiday wish list items are:
For Mother’s Day we are collecting small self-care items (e.g., soaps, scented and unscented hand sanitizers, lip balms, pocket tissues, hand lotions). We will be offering moms some mindfulness tips to help them during these difficult times and these items will accompany our printed materials.
For Father’s Day we are collecting new baby books (in English and Spanish) for dads to read to their preemies. Studies show that reading reinforces a connection to the soothing sound of a parent’s voice, fosters the parent-child bond, and actually boosts brain development and literacy later on! Every little bit helps during this critical period of development. Preemies face speech and language delays in addition to many other challenges.
For our Year-End Holiday Drive we will be collecting $25 gift cards and new preemie outfits from November 15 - December 15.
Volunteer
Glow and make the world a better place for yourself and others!
Thank you to all the volunteers and community groups who worked tirelessly to hand craft the isolette coverlets/blankets, Star Craft Project, and sewn quilts. Your material donations, time and talents were greatly appreciated by our organization, the hospital, and most of all the babies and their parent(s).
To our stand out leaders who conducted successful community drives to collect children’s books and children’s activity items for the waiting room, you have our sincere appreciation and admiration!
To our volunteer attorneys, Gregory Tole, Esq., from GlaxoSmithKline, Patricia Wershulz, Esq., and John G. Webb III, Esq., matched to our organization by ProBono Partnership of New Jersey, thank you for your professional time, skills and good counsel.
Thank you to Gayle, Donna, Kim and Anna Marie for volunteering to work behind the scenes as a part of our virtual office because it is only together that the sky is the limit for The Tiny Star Foundation and the families it serves!
With gratitude,
Karen Carbonello
Conduct a preemie wishing well drive. Please contact us for a list of small new items needed to welcome and congratulate the little ones going home.
Conduct a siblings are special drive. Collect popular activity kit items to be used in waiting rooms and as take-home gifts from parents who have spent much time in the NICU away from their children at home. Please contact us for an age-appropriate list of new items needed such as crayons, coloring books, colored pencils, and new stuffies.
Create handmade projects. If you are a serious crafter or a wannabe, please contact us. We need sewers, knitters, scrapbookers and woodworkers for future projects!
Throw a party. We need help planning, preparing and staging our upcoming outdoor special event!
Coordinate a NO-SEW communal project. Looking for a fun meaningful team building exercise for your company or small business? Create a no-sew communal project together making a year’s supply of up to 300 isolette covers for one hospital’s NICU using this approved template. The blankets will help block out some of the sights and sounds, and bring much-needed peace to the fragile babies in the NICU. Later, families will have a keepsake stroller blanket to take home.
Help from home. Need a diversion from working and schooling at home? Assemble packets and mass mailings, gift wrap our gifts, or have your family join you in making palm-sized stuffed polar fleece stars for moms to take home. They will sleep with them and bring them back to the hospital for their babies. By giving the stars their scent, moms will be further connected to their babies.
Contribute your visual and performing arts skills. We’d love the opportunity to involve you in some very special projects. If this cause is near and dear to your heart, we have easy, short-term paid and unpaid opportunities for you! Check back for details about an upcoming contest with a cash prize too!
Shop. Shop online through Amazon Smiles. Purchase items from our curated online vendors and in-person retail stores for your next baby shower, or christening, or to welcome another new baby. These retailers give back a percentage of sales to us! Consider making that purchase a buy-one give-one opportunity to also support our fragile babies!
Visit our semi-annual Tiny Star Collection pop up store. The store will include sales on brand new and preloved clothing and accessories for preemie-3T sizes.
Show off our gear. Buy our logo wear (coming soon!) to promote awareness of our cause!
Attend our stellar special event. Please join us for the first annual Stargazers’ Night Out for a peek in the nursery, dinner under the stars, and a facilitated stargazing astro photography experience! Plans are in progress for an outdoor September event subject to safe COVID-19 restrictions. We can’t wait for the big reveal!
Stay Connected
Are you a grandparent, a family member, or a caring friend? Are you looking to be more informed and supportive for a loved one? Let us send you updates on new resources, our quarterly newsletter and information about upcoming events.