During Covid, Evie Wood was at home with her new baby Teddy (now Ted) on maternity leave, and as many new mothers do she had lots of baby clothes that were quickly outgrown, or in some cases grown-out of before they even got tried on!
‘There were a lot of high-quality items and I had a complete baby bundle for another new mum,’ said Evie.
‘I put it on Facebook Marketplace and it was quickly snapped up. During the process a social worker from Casino reached out telling me how much these types of baby bundles meant to Aboriginal mothers she worked with,’ Evie told The Echo.
‘She also talked about how infants were still being removed from their mothers today. I was on maternity leave and I got talking to my mum whose family has a history of babies being removed from the family as infants and we decided to use our Covid supplements to create baby bundles. I had a new baby, so I had a good idea of what other young mothers would need and we’d put these bundles together to be given away to other young Aboriginal mums.’
Once the Covid supplement stopped they didn’t have the money to keep the project going.
‘I was telling everyone about this idea but I didn’t know how to get it off the ground,’ Evie said.
Evie had studied law and was also a member of the Byron Rural Fire Service (RFS) and it was the captain who suggested she go and talk to another member, Pam, who might be able to give her some advice. It was then that the idea of Coolamon Community was born.
‘Pam had the skills, connections, and facilities to get the project off the ground,’ explained Evie.
‘She was able to mentor me and we entered into an arrangement with Bullinah, the Aboriginal Health Service in Ballina.’
They went through a process of deep consultation with mothers, social workers, midwives, Aunties, and Elders asking ‘if you could give anything to your new mothers what would it be?’
‘They made a list of everything they wanted women to have that would set them up for success. Then the real work began.
‘We created a high quality gift that was no-strings-attached between mums and culturally-sensitive health workers. It is clearly evidenced that a positive, regular relationship between a mum and healthcare professional during pregnancy and postnatally leads to better health and wellbeing outcomes for the mum and the baby.’
Become a volunteer
From small beginnings in Ballina and Lismore the program has spread throughout the Northern Rivers and beyond.
‘We now provide baby packages to multiple locations in the Northern Territory, the whole of the Kimberley region in WA, and have many new requests coming in,’ said Evie.
With an estimated supply of 1,000 bundles in 2026 they are looking for more volunteers to come and help them prepare the baby packages. They get together on Monday and Friday mornings with volunteers coming when they can.
‘We have a great collection of grandmothers, Elders, mums, dads, midwives, and students who come along when they can to help,’ said Pam.
‘We get to create these really meaningful baby packages and also solve the worlds problems as we fold and sort baby clothes,’ she says with a laugh.
Everything they supply is new, is Sleep Safe and ACCC compliant, they use First Nations designers and suppliers where they can, and adjust the baby packages to the needs of the people they are being sent to.
‘Volunteers are everything to us and make this all possible,’ said Pam.
‘Some people come every time, others come once a month or once every few months. It is all about coming and helping when you can.’
If you’d like to lend a hand and be part of something meaningful, contact Pam on 0417 393 168 or [email protected].
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