Hawke’s Bay Coffin Club looking for volunteers to help make baby coffins

Coffin Club Hawke’s Bay Incorporated is looking for more volunteers to help hake baby coffins that are then donated around hospitals in the Central North Island. Photo / Supplied

Almost 1000 infant coffins made by volunteers in Hawke’s Bay have been donated to hospitals in the North Island.

The Coffin Club Hawke’s Bay Incorporated has been making them since 2015, and giving them to four hospitals across the Central North Island. The vast majority, 940, were given to Hawke’s Bay Hospital in Hastings, and some to Gisborne, Wairoa and Whanganui.

They cost a lot to make though, and now the club is calling for donations, so that it can keep going with the tradition.

Yearly the club donates infant coffins to the Ata Rangi maternity ward, A & E, and general ward at the Hawke’s Bay Hospital.

Each coffin donated is used for babies lost to miscarriages and ranges in size from around a 15-week miscarriage through to a full-term baby. The club also donate to anyone who has had a miscarriage at home and can meet grieving parents so they can have a donated coffin.

The Coffin Club Hawke’s Bay Incorporated secretary Helen Bromley said the feedback about the donated coffins speaks for itself.

“All our midwives ask that we never stop making these wee coffins, and we have had feedback from those parents that have received a coffin too,” Bromley said.

Coffin Club Hawke’s Bay Incorporated is a sociable club building coffins for themselves and others. Photo / Supplied

Each time the club delivers small coffins to the hospitals they are told the families and midwives are very grateful to receive them.

“These coffins are made with love by the volunteers and they all find it a very gratifying experience to have helped those grieving parents,” she said.

A lot of hard work and materials go into the donated coffins so the local club has created a Give-a-Little page to help with the costs and appreciates any donations that help keep them making the special baby coffins.

Bromley said, “The baby coffins are beautifully lined with baby prints and have teddies and angel pockets and blankets. The baby prints that the club buys are quite expensive, and it was thought that the Give-a-little page could help with this expense.”

Every Tuesday, Coffin Club members meet at their Hastings base and volunteer their time and skills for the club. They make coffins of all different shapes and sizes, paint and line them and also make the ash boxes for the Hastings District Council.

Some members make their own coffins and so they have the opportunity to prepare and personalise their “final bedrooms” and to plan ahead, while others just come as volunteers just because they would like to help.

“We have had very positive feedback from the community where there was never anything like this available before, and the community is very grateful that this void has been filled,” Bromley said.

While some may think a Coffin Club would be a solemn group, the Coffin Club secretary explained her club is a very cheerful group, with a diverse range of members.

Bromley added the club needs more volunteers especially those with trades skills; ex-builders, and cabinet makers are welcome to join the club.