Look what the Stork brought
There may have been a cold rain falling on the grounds of Alexandra Neighbourhood House in Crescent Beach recently, but there was a warm feeling at the facility’s beach house building as staff took the delivery of 10 baby cribs donated by Stork Craft Manufacturing Inc. of Richmond.
Stork Craft president and CEO Jim Moore, product management vice-president Adam Segal and B.C. Minister of Children and Family Development Stephanie Cadieux were on hand to explain that the local delivery was the first of many to be co-ordinated by the ministry throughout the Lower Mainland and across B.C.
Moore said the cribs, designed to provide a safe sleep environment for infants, are being donated to families in need who don’t have the resources to buy them.
And while he said there was no specific limit on the number of cribs that will be donated, he estimated the most pressing need – as identified by distribution partners the Association of Neighbourhood Houses of B.C., the B.C. Society of Transition Houses and Westcoast Family Centres – is for 1,000 cribs across the province, amounting to a $250,000 donation.
“We started off responding to a single person in Calgary who was a friend of NeighbourLink (a charitable organization) which had a desperate need for 100 cribs,” Moore said.
“Then, we thought, there’s got to be a need in B.C., too. We contacted the ministry to see what we could do, and they put together quite a program for us.”
Cadieux, MLA for Surrey-Panorama, said Stork Craft’s donation “will go a long way in supporting vulnerable families in British Columbia.”
She added the donations could help families in a wide range of situations, including low income families, women and children escaping violence in the home, or immigrant and refugee families trying to make a new life in B.C.
“Whatever circumstances the families find themselves in, this is a valuable contribution.”
Rhea Hubbard, director of youth and family programs at Alexandra Neighborhood House, said that in addition to distributing cribs to needy families, the facility is looking at retaining some on-site for its child care programs.
“We know how important sleep is in the growth and development of a child,” she said. “This (donation) will make a huge difference.”
Moore said Stork Craft has a long-standing commitment to philanthropy, starting with company founder Joseph Segal, Adam Segal’s grandfather.
“Both my grandfather and my father are very involved in community,” Segal said.
“They instilled in me the importance of giving back to those in need, and the vulnerable who can’t help themselves.”
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