After Christy Sykes’ youngest daughter, Lorena, spent her first 37 days in the neonatal intensive care unit at Mount Carmel East, Sykes knew she wanted to help other parents going through the same difficult experience.
Nearly seven years later, Sykes has donated 449 care bags through her organization, Lorena’s Dream, to the same NICU where Lorena spent her first weeks. And she plans to donate even more – 100 per year – for the foreseeable future.
Happy Days Turn Troublesome
Before she became a mom, Sykes grew up in Pickerington where she spent a lot of time with family going to church and getting together on the weekends.
After graduating high school in 2001, she went on to study computer engineering technology at Shawnee State University where she eventually met her husband, Cory.
The two met through their leadership roles in a Christian group known as the Campus Crusade for Christ and grew closer over the years.
In 2008 they got married and eventually bought a house together in Pickerington in 2015. Their family grew in 2013 with the addition of their daughter Carly and again in 2016 when Lorena was born.
And while they were excited to welcome their second daughter to the world, they were not prepared to do it quite so early.
“She was due in January and she came the week of Thanksgiving,” Sykes says. “So it wasn't really until they were like, ‘OK, she’s coming, ready to push? It’s time to go deliver,’ that was really when I kind of started to panic thinking, ‘Oh, no, it’s way too early.’”
At four pounds and 13 ounces, Lorena was born roughly seven weeks early on Nov. 22, 2016, two days before Thanksgiving. Because she was born so early, she had to stay in the NICU until she learned how to eat and was able to gain some weight.
Every day Sykes made the trip to Mount Carmel to visit Lorena, and since she would be there for hours on end, she made sure to bring a bag filled with everything from snacks and drinks to tissues and a journal to take notes in.
“That’s kind of why I started doing the (NICU) bags,” Sykes says. “I thought everybody needs something little like that. That’s just for you. That gives you a little bit of home and feeling loved or feeling like you're not alone.”
Lorena’s Dream Takes Flight
After getting approval from the NICU director, Sykes turned to her family and friends through social media in January 2017 to get her idea off the ground.
Sykes first needed support and sponsorship to bulk purchase the tote bags through Thirty-One Gifts. Then, Sykes stuffed each tote with things she’d had in her own NICU bag – snacks, tissues and more. The Lorena’s Dream bags, however, contained an additional item: an itemized list of the inclusions and a letter that shared Lorena’s story.
Sykes’ goal for the first year was to secure a sponsorship for 15 bags. Instead, community members stepped up and covered 42 in the first year alone.
Since then, the organization has grown in numbers – roughly 280 members are connected via Facebook – and offerings, as the contents of the bags have transformed over the years.
In recent years, Sykes says they have added homemade items such as knitted or crocheted baby blankets, hats and socks.
To personalize the bags even more, she has also added tags on items in the bags – such as handmade items and the totes themselves – with the first names of the people who helped put the bag together.
“When someone’s opening this bag, you can actually see how many people helped put your bag together,” Sykes says.
The letters have also changed over time – sometimes including a story from a member of the group or simply encouraging words to the recipient – but that is one thing Sykes says leaves an impact.
Helping Where You Can
Lorena’s Dream is always welcoming to volunteers, even if they can’t purchase a bag or craft items.
“If they can’t buy anything but they want to come help pack the bags or if they want to write cards. I’ll give you cards,” she says. “If you have something to say, I don’t care, I have plenty of cards for you.”
Every spring she has packing parties with a large group of volunteers, and Sykes says newcomers are always welcome. After they are completed, a group will then go with Sykes to the hospital to help her drop off the bags at the hospital.
“It’s about our community and my circle, which has gotten infinitely bigger, being able to help people when they need help,” Sykes says.
And that help has taken on different forms. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Sykes made roughly 300 bags for nurses, teachers and residents at Brookdale Lakeview Crossing. She hopes to one day offer those bags again.
With all the love and time Sykes and others pour into Lorena’s Dream bags, she knows they may not have the power to change a situation, but they can sure make it brighter.
“Our bag is not going to help that baby come home and our bag is not going to heal whatever problems you have,” Sykes says, “it’s more about just a connection with another person so you’re not alone.”
Rachel Karas is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at rkaras@cityscenemediagroup.com.
