Paying it forward: NICU gift donations for the holidays

This Lincoln family had their daughter in the NICU for 40 days and received gifts from strangers. Now, they are collecting donations to gift other families that may be in the NICU this winter season.

“When you have a kid, everybody always says please let me know if I can do anything, and the temptation is to say no we don’t need anything, but you really do need a ton of stuff,” father of Elliott Kibler, Cory Kibler said. 

In 2017, the Kibler family had to spend their Christmas holiday in the NICU when Elliott was born 2 months prematurely. She remained in the NICU for 40 days.

“We went to her NICU, we bought her a few gifts to give her for Christmas, but we weren’t able to see any family that day and we were like, I don’t want anybody to experience this if they don’t have to,” Kibler said. 

Their struggle became a Christmas miracle when former NICU Saint Nicks had left gifts in the room for them.

“…because nobody else was there to support us, so people that had graduated from the NICU before, had kids there, brought us gifts and notes of encouragement and things like that, so it was really sweet to be able to get that support in a difficult time, super difficult,” Kibler said. 

In return, this family learned a thing or two about the gift of giving. They decided to start a donation program for new babies and their families that are stuck in the NICU for the holidays.

“Ideally, each family gets a little care package, and they get a note and they get an octopus and a hat and a book, some chapstick, snacks, just contained in a little, yeah,” Kibler said. 

They say the formula to the box is any item that will help the parents as much as the babies, including the most important items:  personalized cards of encouragement and inspirational books.

“Hats and scarves for the baby for sure, but also just snacks, chapstick, coffee, books, whatever… You’re in the NICU a lot, it’s a lot of sitting around and being really stressed out, and so anything that you can have to take your mind off of it or to just be more comfortable is great,” Kibler said. 

This year they are hoping to put together 50 or more boxes that will all be distributed to Bryan Health and St. Elizabeth’s NICUs. 

You can make your donations today to NICU families at https://corykibler.wixsite.com/saintnicu