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Angel in the Shadows
As Kam Lloyd gushed over her new grandchild, she was shocked to hear not every new mum had support. So, she instinctively told the midwife she could help. The rest, as they say, is history.
As Kam Lloyd gushed over her new grandchild, she was shocked to hear not every new mum had support. So, she instinctively told the midwife she could help. The rest, as they say, is history.
Every week, families are welcoming a precious new baby while in the depths of extreme hardship.
And every week, the heaviness of that is made a little bit lighter for some local families by a small charity called All for Love Tauranga.
“It’s for each family to feel they are special and that someone cares,” founder Kam Lloyd says from her refurbished shed.
Kam’s wearing a hot pink shirt and matching lipstick, both as bright as her bubbly personality. Her phone is constantly dinging with messages and emails about referrals or donations.
“There’s a lot of people out there with absolutely nothing. A lot of people are really struggling.”
The not-for-profit started after the first Covid-19 lockdown in May 2020. As Kam gushed over her new grandchild, she was “shocked” to hear from the midwife that not everyone had support, and instinctively told the midwife she could help.
A few months later, the midwife desperately called to take her up on that offer.
Kam’s eyes well up as she retells the story, nearly six years later, of the midwife calling after a surprise homebirth where she saw the woman had “nothing”. The midwife’s husband even had to rush in towels during the birth.
“There’s a lot of people out there with absolutely nothing. A lot of people are really struggling.”
“I dropped everything,” Kam recalls.
She filled a trolley at the supermarket buying as many baby items as she could, trying to think of what mum and bub could need.
The rest is history.
She’d never done anything like it before, having previously done bookwork for the family business before working in pharmacy retail.
When Our Place visits, Kam’s working on a delivery for a family in need with a newborn girl.
As she does with every family, she’s making up something for the siblings, too, which in this case included a banana box for a one-year-old and a backpack filled with toys and treats for a six-year-old.
“We only go up to five years old, usually… but imagine being that six-year-old and getting nothing,” she says.
Her heart is clearly calling a lot of the shots, as it has from the beginning.
The boxes for each child have a hand-knitted blanket draping over the sides, with the contents neatly tucked in, including more blankets, clothes for now and two sizes up, new knits, towels, toys, toiletries, and anything else a baby might need. For the mum, there are essentials and treats.
It’s all either new or like-new. She’s very particular about the standard.
She originally set out to help newborns, scouring Facebook Marketplace in the beginning as she put out calls for donations, which started rolling in.
The age of recipients quickly increased, as Kam couldn’t fathom the thought of an older child in one of the households watching their newborn sibling getting an overflowing parcel along with the mum care packs, and they weren’t.
To ensure the support gets to those most in need, she only accepts referrals from reputable agencies, like Plunket, midwives, health services or social workers, including Community Health 4 Kids. One of those recent cases was a midwife reaching out after she did a home visit for the first time, and saw the newborn wearing her two-year-old brother’s clothes as her mum couldn’t afford anything else.
“It breaks my heart.”
Her face saddens as she explains she’s only getting busier, and more referrals are coming through for family harm reasons with babies involved.
“I didn’t realise it would get so big.”
Each parcel takes several hours to create, as she specially puts them together based on any information she gets in the referral. At the moment, she’s sending out parcels for about 22 children a month.
“I love it… I love making it look nice and thinking about them opening it up,” she says, while showing some finishing touches – cellophane, ribbon, a small note – which she buys out of her own pocket. Once they’re ready, the referer collects it, or her husband drops it off.
“I love it… I love making it look nice and thinking about them opening it up.”
She never meets the families. She can’t, she says, as she won’t stop thinking and worrying about the family. She’s also had to ask for the referrals not to go into too much detail about the scenarios for the same reason.
It’s come a long way since the first delivery.
“I’m a bit of a nutter,” she jokes, standing in the middle of her refurbished shed. The walls, lined with shelves, are filled to the ceiling with storage boxes with either pink or blue labels stating the contents.
She flutters around her cosy space flooded with natural light to show the gorgeous knits in one container, the mother goodies or postpartum supplies in the corner, or the cot blankets on the top side wall. Everything is in its place.
There are also a lot of new people keen to help now, with support for the families coming solely from the community, and some keen sewers, knitters and hobbyists providing regular donations.
“Some have become more like friends,” Kam says.
Among the many one-off donations, some have joined in her crusade as regular donors, and Kam can’t help but gush over everything.
“Just look at these,” she says, holding up tiny knitted matching jersey and beanie sets, toys, homemade breastpads and stunning bassinet quilts.
“It really makes a difference,” she says.
One generous woman frequently buys what would have easily amounted to hundreds of items, of everything from new clothes on clearance and books, to baby towels and special treats for mums. “She’s so naughty,” Kam says, though admitting she does the same.
The growth has also meant she now has three volunteers who help collect and sort through donations in different areas in the community, which has made a huge difference in what’s able to be completed.
“I love coming in here,” she says about her shed full of kind donations.
Like the countless knitting donations, Kam’s charity has woven together individuals, hobby groups, and local businesses for the babies in the community.
Anyone keen to donate new or like-new condition items can contact her through her Facebook page.
Facebook: All 4 Love Tga
