Pregnancy Help Ōtepoti Dunedin

Thanks heaps to everyone for a brilliant day. We❤️being able to use our page to pass things onto whānau. I am thinking that we may do a clothing bundles and bits and pieces day (possibly on a Saturday, and it may take a week or two to organise). Does this sound like a good idea?

Next we have a container of pre-loved wooden blocks. Since bad weather is on the way and they would be a great indoor activity, these can be first in first served as long as they are being asked for, for tamariki aged 2 or over (the age recommendation noted on the container)
Please note that none of the items that we offer on here are associated with Facebook, and all items need to be collected from us at our premises in South Dunedin during our opening hours.

Is anyone getting ready to welcome baby soon or has recently had baby, and would like to choose a pair of Pip's gorgeous little woollen slippers for them? (They are all newborn size). You're most welcome to call in, but please comment on the post first so we can keep track of what we have (They are loosely 7 pairs with pinks, and 7 pairs without pinks)
Please note that none of the items that we offer on here are associated with Facebook, and all items need to be collected from us at our premises in South Dunedin during our opening hours.

These are just some random/ different things that we have (all pre-loved, but in excellent condition)
2 bundles of small bibs/ bandanas (both without pinks)
2 bundles of burp cloths (1 with pinks/ 1 without pinks)
3 bundles of burp cloths (All without pinks)
Please comment on the post if something would be useful to you.
Please note that none of the items that we offer on here are associated with Facebook, and all items need to be collected from us at our premises in South Dunedin during our opening hours.

Next up we have a large activity mat and some baby toys to go with it. These are pre-loved, but in excellent condition and can be one of those 'nice to haves'. If you'd like these for your little one, let us know by commenting on the post.
Please note that none of the items that we offer on here are associated with Facebook, and all items need to be collected from us at our premises in South Dunedin during our opening hours.

Post edit 12.07pm: These have all been offered to people now.
Next up we 6 bags of assorted toiletries. Please comment on the post stating exactly what one(s) that you'd like- to be as fair as possible to everyone, these will be done as a draw a bit later on.
2 bags of assorted baby toiletries.
2 bags of assorted family toiletries.
2 bags of assorted Karl Lagerfield/ Balmain toiletries (These could be for guys/ or anyone who doesn't like fruity/flowery type toiletries)
Please note that none of the items that we offer on here are associated with Facebook, and all items need to be collected from us at our premises in South Dunedin during our opening hours.

Post edit 12.08pm: These have all been offered to people now.
Next up we have some AoteaRoad stretch mark balm.
Please note that you should always do your own research before using any product like this.
First in/ first served. One per person. Please comment on the post.
Please note that none of the items that we offer on here are associated with Facebook, and all items need to be collected from us at our premises in South Dunedin during our opening hours.

Next up in our bits and pieces day is nursing/ baby feeding type items (First in first served for these, and we are happy to combine a couple of different types of items per person). Please comment on the post.
Disposable nursing pads: 4 lots.
Milk storage bags: 4 lots.
Lansinoh cream: 1
Haakaa pumps: 2 (These are more let down collection type pumps rather than pumping type pumps - hopefully this makes sense)
Please note that in offering these items we are in no way intending to influence anyone in the way that they feed their baby - you should always do your own research etc.
Please note as well that none of the items that we offer on here are associated with Facebook, and all items need to be collected from us at our premises in South Dunedin during our opening hours.

Post edit 12.09pm: These have all been offered to people now.
First up in our bits and pieces day is some nappies. (To be as fair as possible, some posts today may be first in first served, and others may be draws - because of the demand for nappies we'll leave this post until a bit later on this morning and then do a draw).
Huggies Boys size 3 (combination of nappies and nappy pants)
Huggies girls size 4 nappy pants
Rascals size 4 nappies.
Please comment on the post if you'd like some.
Please note that none of the items that we offer on here are associated with Facebook, and all items need to be collected from us at our premises in South Dunedin during our opening hours.

Shall we have one of our bits and pieces days today? (We haven't had one for a while)

Post edit 11am Friday: These giveaways are closed now.
Let's do two giveaways this afternoon.
Giveaway 1: A basket full of baby bits and pieces for a whānau getting ready for baby to arrive.
Giveaway 2: A 'set' of 5 bath fizzers (Let the kids enjoy them, or enjoy them yourself?).
If you'd like one of these, let us know by commenting on the post (You can enter into one or both). We'll draw the people that they will be passed onto tomorrow using a random number generator based on the number of comments.
Please note that none of the items that we offer on here are associated with Facebook, and all items need to be collected from us at our premises in South Dunedin during our opening hours.

It may only be Wednesday, but we have had a large amount of donations that have already come into us this week. We can't really adequately express how very grateful we are for this - it also means even more at the moment knowing how hard things are for many whānau financially that people are still chosing to do this rather than to sell items (which would actually be a totally understandable 'reality of life').
Thank you immensely for helping us to keep on caring❤️

This morning we'd like to introduce you to Pip. Yesterday she gifted us all of these beautifully crafted items that she had made ❤️

Is anyone short of size 3 nappies at the moment? Please comment on the post, but please also note a couple of things in relation to these first:
It says size 4 on the nappies, but the person who very generously donated them to us yesterday said the sizing on this brand is small because they aren't stretchy around the top, so they are more of a 3 than a 4.
We want to pass them onto whānau needing this size right at the moment.
None of the items that we offer on here are associated with Facebook, and all items need to be collected from our premises in South Dunedin during our opening hours.

Post edit 2.54pm Tuesday: This giveaway is closed now.
I know that we say it a lot, but we really do have the absolute best community❤️. A massive thank you to Taylor for buying these gorgeous outfits for us to do a giveaway❤️. If you'd like one for your little one (they are both size 1/18 months) let us know which one by commenting on the post - either bear (the cream and brown one) or bird (the lavender one). We'll draw the people that they will be passed onto tomorrow afternoon using a random number generator based on the number of comments.
Please note that none of the items that we offer on here are associated with Facebook, and all items need to be collected from our premises in South Dunedin during our opening hours.

It has turned back into hat weather ☂️🌨 We have lots in our client area - feel free to call in to choose some (We're open until 4). We also have woollen singlets, booties, and cardies/ jumpers out for browsing.

Sometimes people aren't sure where to find us because we're in the South City Mall and it's not your traditional shopping/ retail type mall (It's a perfect location for us though because it's right in the heart of South Dunedin next to PaknSave). It's kind of like a community hub without the official name. SuperGrans Dunedin Charitable Trust are right next door to us on one side, and Literacy Aotearoa are on the other side. Cello Tech Hub are across from us (If you look out for them on Hillside Rd, you've found the South City Mall), and Ingrid Leary's office are on the corner. Pōtiki Poi, and HumS Beauty Clinic Dunedin are upstairs, as are the Community Care Trust and Otago Plunket (however Plunket's main South Dunedin location is in Lorne St).

Saturday donations spotlight. We ❤️ and appreciate receiving donations of Christmas clothing 🎅; baby and children's swimwear🩱; and nappy bags👜. We never sell items - they are always passed onto whānau at no cost, and we'll be open again on Monday from 9.30-4 in the South City Mall, South Dunedin.

A massive thank you once again to the Graduate Women Otago. Thanks to their generosity I was able to go to Kmart after work today to buy all of these gorgeous prem items to supplement our donated stocks ❤️ (They have been so generous that we'll be able to do this a few times, but we'll spread it out over a few months).

Here’s some things that you might not know about us.
Pregnancy Help was set up in New Zealand in the mid-1970s, and a Branch was set up here in Dunedin in 1983. Our 41st birthday was last month.
Sometimes people thing that we ‘just’ help younger people, but we provide our services to lots of different people in different age groups – in fact the biggest percentage of people who we provide our services to are 30-34.
When we first started out it was generally about helping people out because they couldn’t afford to buy new things, but over time that has changed (which we think is a fantastic thing) – these days we're all about a combination of caring for people, and also caring for the environment by helping people to reuse things.
We try to be respectful about things not being easy for people, but we also don’t think of or talk about people as being needy or struggling.
Sometimes people think that we’re a pro-life organization, but we’re not. We actually have a specific policy around this which states: The overall philosophy of Pregnancy Help is to be neither pro-life, nor pro-choice. Clients consideration abortion should be provided information about appropriate counselling options. Pregnancy help workers are not to influence a client in any way about the option of abortion. (How this works practically is that we’ll refer people to places like the Sexual Health Clinic at the hospital; Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa; or Student Health Services).
We engage with over 70% of people that we provide our services to on here, as well as them coming into our drop-in centre.
May is usually our busiest month of the year (It’s that stressful month where whānau are often worrying about keeping little ones warm with winter on the way).
Each year we provide around 50,000 items of practical support (This has built up over time - over the past 19 years we provided 1779 sleep spaces, 17,379 items of bedding, and 323,019 items of baby and children’s clothing).
One of the reasons that we like using our page on here (apart from passing on a lot of things to people) is that because we’re very open about what we are doing and how we are doing it etc, it helps us to be accountable. We don’t think this is a negative thing at all (but please bear in mind that we do try to have a healthy perspective of everything always being a work in progress).

A couple of parents this week have been talking to us about heading back to work. Our general advice in all situations is to be kind to yourself❤️, but what would you add to that?

Post edit 4.15pm: We should be sorted now. Having such a totally amazing community makes us very thankful, and our❤️s very happy.
Does anyone have any standard type 0/6 months/ Stage 1 formula that they could donate to us? (It needs to be new and unopened, and within use by dates). We're asking because we have an urgent need for some. Many thanks❤️

Don't you just ❤️ hats with poms poms? (What's the Mary Poppins expression? Practically perfect in every way). Beautiful creations by Pam.
(This one isn't a giveaway - they will be added into our hats bins)

A ❤️ for anyone going through a hard time being sleep deprived because of little ones (or kids). It can be very overwhelming ❤️

Is anyone short of cot sheets at the moment, or would like some sheets for when their little one moves into a cot? We have 17 bundles of two fitted sheets and two flat sheets each - they are cotton sheets rather the winter flannelette ones but we thought that we'd offer them at the moment because it's still hard to get washing dry so having spares is always handy instead of having to stress when baby has a spill or a nappy leaks when baby is in bed. Please comment on the post - 3 bundles have pinks in them, and the other 14 don't have pinks - let us know if you have a preference (and also let us know if you ask for one with pinks and the pinks have already gone, if one without pinks is okay).

The other thing that we have today is some of our size 2 and above pre-loved clothing bundles. Let us know what one would be useful to you from the list below (Please only ask for your own whānau, and if it's the size needed right at the moment or within the next couple of months).
Size 2 without pink: 1 bundle.
Size 2 with pink: 2 bundles
Size 3 without pink: 1 bundle
Size 3 with pink: 1 bundle
Size 4 without pink: 1 bundle
Size 4 with pink: 1 bundle
Size 5/6 without pink: 1 bundle
Size 6 without pink: 1 bundle
Size 7 with pink: 1 bundle
Size 14 with pink: 1 bundle of 2 pairs of pjs.
We also have a black size 8 jacket, and a blue size 12 jacket (both new)
We'll leave the post until tomorrow morning and then if the number of requests exceeds what we have, to be as fair as possible to everyone they will be done as draws. Please note that none of the items that we offer are associated with Facebook, and all items need to be collected from our premises in South Dunedin during our opening hours.

Is anyone short of size 2, 4 (girl's nappy pants), or size 5 nappies after the weekend? Please comment on the post - we'll leave the post until a bit later on and then work out as fair a way as possible to allocate them.

A reminder that we never ever sell the items that you donate to us. They are always passed onto whānau at no cost.

Save the date! Special Rigs for Special Kids is on again on August 25th (Best event of the year)

Brrrrrrrrrr. It's cold out there today.
Here's something else that might be handy to know about keeping little ones warm when the weather is like this. Using sleep sacks can help to support safe sleeping and they can be really handy to use when little ones go through that stage of getting cold because they kick all of their bedding off, but you need to make sure that they fit properly. They should fit snugly (but not too tightly) around baby's shoulders/ upper torso, because if they are too loose what can happen is that baby can slip down inside the sleepsack.