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About three years ago, a picture on the Internet of a white trauma doll — popular with hospitalized children — gave members of the Kettering-Centerville Kiwanis an idea for a project involving children.
“We took the original pattern but made our doll larger, 12 inches long, with a head, two arms and two legs,” said Marilyn Brown of Kettering.
“When stuffed with non-allergic polyester, the doll is the softest thing imaginable.”
At the recent Make A Difference Day in Kettering, in a large room at Christ United Methodist Church, a dozen or more volunteers along with members of the Key Club of Alter High School, were busily stuffing dolls.
Each doll also received two fabric markers tied with a narrow red ribbon.
A subcommittee of women work year around on their sewing machines making the basic dolls before they are turned inside out to be ready for stuffing.
“Each year we make more than a hundred dolls, and they are distributed to the Children’s Medical Center and the emergency departments at Kettering Memorial Hospital and Sycamore Hospital,” said Ralph Daniels, community service director of the Kettering–Centerville Kiwanis.
“Many a frightened child, fearing surgery or any kind of medical procedure, is calmed when given a soft, cuddly doll.”
Tully McCall, Kiwanis member and retired nurse, was instrumental in obtaining a $1,000 grant from the Ohio District Kiwanis Foundation in Columbus to cover some of the expenses in making the dolls.
“In addition to the benefits a child receives from a trauma doll while in a hospital, an innocent child can easily mark the doll indicting the body parts that were assaulted in a criminal case,” McCall said.
“Indeed, a disturbing commentary on life today.”
C
ontact this columnist at (937) 433-1552 or adeleauk4737@sbc global.net.
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