I slowly rock as I hold the three-pound newborn baby girl in my arms.  I marvel at her tiny, delicate fingers.  She is just one of many babies-at-risk in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit here at a local hospital in Salinas, California.

My name is Sandy Ciucci and I’m the Executive Director of Project BabyLove, a volunteer Cuddler Program designed for this special hospital unit.

I invite you to join me in making a difference in the life of every newborn baby in our community by supporting Project BabyLove’s mission to “nurture the smallest, newest and most fragile among us, and to create Cuddler programs in every Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the nation.”

Project BabyLove’s Cuddler Program creates a corps of loving and caring volunteers, trained to help the nursing staff in the Neonatal Care Unit (NICU).

As a Cuddler volunteer, I’ve watched closely at what happens in the NICU, and have noticed that when an emergency baby comes in there can be twelve doctors and nurses working on that one baby.  If there are other fragile babies in the ward, there is the need for someone to feed, hold and change them – by Cuddler volunteers – while the nurses and doctors do their job.

One nurse recently told an interviewer about the volunteers, “Our Cuddlers make a world of difference to the babies as well as the nurses and mothers.  This Intensive Care Unit can hold 15 or more babies.   All our babies need extra nurturing, and many days we don’t have time to give it to them.  Many times our attention is taken by babies in stress, and we don’t have time to give the others extra nurturing.  It’s a blessing when we see our Cuddlers walk in the door.”

Babies who are held and cared for at birth eat better, sleep better, grow faster, and it has been shown that there is a less chance of violence later on in their life.  A new biological study beyond DNA, called Epigenetics*, indicates that when babies are held from birth their genes are permanently altered.   And, not only that baby, but that baby’s children and grandchildren. I see Project BabyLove as creating a new generation being cared for in such a way that it changes how they live in their world.  If Project BabyLove’s Cuddler Program can train enough volunteers, over time we can alter life on this planet as we now know it.

It doesn’t take hard work to give these babies a chance at life … it takes Love.  Cuddlers donate their time and love to make a difference in the lives of these fragile babies.  You can make a difference too!

Your financial support will enable Project BabyLove to reach out to all of the smallest, newest and most fragile among us by creating Cuddler Programs in Neonatal Intensive Care Units across the country.  Your generosity will impact generations to come; raising the quality of life of children growing up to become healthy, strong contributors to our society.

Thank you,

Sandy Ciucci, Executive Director

Project BabyLove

* Ghost In Your Genes, a NOVA production by Holt Production LLC and the BBC, © 2006 BBC.