Volunteers at Coffin Club Hawke’s Bay have been making baby coffins since 2015.
It’s a truly heartbreaking sight in the decorating room of Coffin Club Hawke’s Bay where hundreds of baby coffins, made by volunteers, are sent to maternity wards around the North Island.
“We supply baby coffins to the hospitals in Hastings, Gisborne, Wairoa, and Wanganui, also any member of the public that has a need for a baby coffin,” said club treasurer Cherie Hames.
Materials for the coffins are donated and volunteers come to help every Tuesday morning.
Volunteer Christina Ellison knows first-hand how important the work is: “I lost my little girl, many years ago. She’d have been in her 50s now.
“They took her out to the hospital, tried to resuscitate her, but it didn’t work. It happened too fast.”
Hastings resident Hana Stevenson shared a similar experience: “Twenty years ago, I miscarried my baby. I was in a lot of pain because I didn’t understand at such a young age. I was 21. I never understood what it was like to lose a baby. It’s devastating.”
Hames said there’s a huge need in the community for baby coffins.
“It’s actually a higher turnover than anybody ever imagines. But it’s something that we don’t really discuss in the community.”
The Coffin Club Hawke’s Bay has made baby coffins since 2015, sending them to hospitals in the North Island.
Each Tuesday morning, 30-to-40 people volunteer their time and the club estimates it’s given away around 1000 coffins to date.
Underneath the decorating room is a workshop for carpentry and painting.
Eighty-eight-year-old Peter McCormick is the club’s oldest member.
“I joined about three years ago, and I was a bit surprised to think that there was even a coffin club. I came and had a look and I was very impressed.”
Volunteer Ted Bos wrapped his own coffin in the Campbell of Argyll tartan pattern, the same as the Hastings Pipe Band.
“I know a coffin has 58 screws holding it together. So the bottom is not going to fall out,” Bos said.
The club gives members the opportunity to have some control in preparing their final destination.
As well as being able to fully customise your coffin, the cost is also more affordable.
“For your coffin, and your membership it’s $700, what that does is you’ve got your coffin. It’s already put together, it’s already under curtains,” said Hames.
When it comes to conversations at the club, it isn’t all doom and gloom.
“We laugh, we talk, we play, we tell stories. Nobody here is scared of death,” said Bos.
