Gently Hugged to hold open house on Sunday

Gently Hugged, an organization that helps babies during their first year of life, is holding an open house at its recently expanded facility.

The open house will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. this Sunday at the Gently Hugged office in Bernardo Winery, 13330 Paseo del Verano Norte, Rancho Bernardo. It will feature opportunity drawings, discounts on gift cards to local businesses and free refreshments.

Attendees do not need to be present to win prizes. Opportunity drawing prizes will include a wine basket, Trader Joe’s basket, picnic basket, ceramic items, Razor Scooter for kids, a bird bath and handmade quilt, said Gently Hugged President Judy Blackford. There will also be a “grab and go” gift card option, where more than 30 cards to local businesses will be sold at a discount, such as a $50 card priced at $40.

San Diego City Councilman Mark Kersey is expected to present a proclamation around 1:30 p.m. declaring Aug. 28 “Gently Hugged Day” in the city, Blackford said. The councilman will also present baby items collected during a clothing drive his office held throughout August at City Hall.

Gently Hugged is a local non-profit that provides a bag full of clothing and other items to help low-income, military, immigrant and foster parents during their baby’s first year. The volunteer-run organization began as an idea formed in late 2011 due to a need that became more apparent during the height of the Great Recession that founders Blackford and Nancy Sweeney noticed. Both are retired public health nurses.

By March 2012, the organization was ready to start accepting and distributing bags filled with new and gently-used baby clothes in newborn, 3-months, 6-months, 9-months and 12-months sizes, plus blankets, baby books and handmade knitted, crocheted or quilted items. They also included multilingual educational materials on preventative health issues for infants.

In less than a year, under the leadership of Blackford, a 4S Ranch resident; Sweeney and Jan Rightmer, both Rancho Bernardans; plus Powegian Elizabeth O’Brien, Gently Hugged had collected 3,200 pounds of baby clothing, enough to fill 235 boxes and bags.

On Monday, Blackford said they have now helped more than 1,800 babies, distributing 45 to 50 bags per month through social workers, nurses and 20 organizations. Their focus has been on an expanding radius within North County plus parts of South Bay.

“There is a lot of need we’re not touching,” Blackford said, adding “we’re it” in terms of groups able to help in many cases.

“We tell the social workers we are there for those with no other resources ... with no social support,” she said. “They say, ‘We have so many (of those babies).’”

She said that prior to the expansion, Gently Hugged only had its office at the winery, where volunteers collected, sorted and sent out for cleaning the donated clothing. Volunteers also worked out of a storage unit in Poway, where they stored the clothing and items plus packed and distributed the gift bags.

Now that it was able to expand its office — it moved into the adjacent space formerly occupied by Salvageability — all operations can be conducted at the winery and the group gave up its storage unit.

“It really helped us be more efficient,” Blackford said, adding that working out of the office is a lot more comfortable for the volunteers compared to the storage unit. “The volunteers can come and go; it’s a very good location,” she said.

While the group is in constant need of clothing donations, which can be left in bins throughout the area — go to gentlyhugged.org for drop-off locations — Blackford said the current greatest need is cash donations to cover the organization’s higher rent due to the expansion.

“We get a little (monetary donations), but are mostly supported by our board members, women’s clubs and Rotary clubs (in the area),” she said.

As for items, she said they can use more knitted, crocheted or quilted blankets and handmade baby items like booties, socks, hats and sweaters. They also fall short in sleepers, “probably because a lot of babies spend most of their day in them,” she said. Clothing cannot have stains or tears.

In addition, she said they receive fewer donations for sizes 9- and 12-months clothing and fewer clothes for girls.

“We get more boy clothes than girl clothes across the board,” Blackford said. “It has always been that way even though it’s pretty much 50/50 in what is asked for, so we’re always scrounging for girl clothes.”