Cuddle bundles celebrates volunteers

More than eight years after it started life as a tiny passion project, Cuddle Bundles, the volunteer baby essentials program run under the banner of the National Council of Jewish Women Australia NSW (NCJWA NSW), recently gathered its community of volunteers, partner organisations and supporters in Sydney to say thank you.

Cuddle Bundles is a volunteer organisation that provides gift bundles of baby essentials to new mums with limited means, supporting local Sydney mums and beyond through referrals and aid groups. Recipients, often women escaping domestic violence, refugees, or those facing poverty or mental illness, are referred by social workers from hospitals, shelters, community centres and other organisations.

The evening was part celebration, part reflection, and the stories shared made clear just how far the program has come.

NCJWA NSW chair of Cuddle Bundles Michele Brandenburger traced the program’s origins back to December 2018, when the first bundle was put together in a lounge room, using outgrown clothing from her baby granddaughter. Coming from South Africa, Brandenburger was well aware of the difficult conditions many new mums faced, often leaving clinics with babies wrapped in newspaper. She wanted to give new life to hardly-used babywear and bring it to those who needed it most.

“We started with a dream, a space to work in, an upstairs attic to store things in, and zero funding,” Brandenburger told guests.