Newsletter: IBC, IBW, carrier donations to our libraries and more!

Hi babywearing friends!

Babywearing International of the Bay Area has so many exciting things happening that we thought we’d send out a newsletter to update you all.

Last month several of your leaders and fellow local babywearers attended the International Babywearing Conference in Tempe, AZ. While only a few left with the flu, we all left with a renewed spirit for the role we play in educating, advocating and sharing the babywearing love! Many generous sponsors made donations to our lending library. We received an exclusive print ErgoBaby carrier which will live in the SF library, a Líllébaby Complete for Walnut Creek, and a size 4 Poe Wovens wrap for Berkeley. Also, in addition to the EIGHT Beco Baby Carriers that we received for teaming with Beco at MommyCon this spring, and the Gemini we received as a prize in the TBW relaunch contest, Beco donated an additional Gemini and Soleil at the conference! That’s 11 carriers donated by Beco this year! All libraries now have at least one Gemini - our most popular SSC for young infants. Let's show these vendors some love! If you have a library carrier on loan you love or maybe you have loved in the past, stop by their Facebook pages and say "Thanks!"

We are working on increasing community outreach efforts, which was one of the main topics of interest in Tempe. This past weekend, Jay, Cristina and Sarah R. attended the Bay Area Birth Justice Fair. Sarah Rockwell reports, "We have made some great connections with birth workers and lactation educators in East Oakland. We're planning to provide some babywearing education to the midwives at the Birth Center, the doulas at Sacred Birth Place, and to TaNefer and some of the other CLEs. This will allow them to help their clients directly with babywearing." We're thinking of holding a carrier donation drive to benefit these organizations, for them to lend carriers to the mothers they serve who can't afford to buy their own. We expect many of our members and regulars have stretchy wraps, pouches or other carriers that they no longer use and may be willing to donate. Watch our Facebook group for news on that effort. Also, Cristina and Jay have made some contacts with WIC programs and are working on similar efforts to educate and support the families served by WIC, and you can see Emily this Friday evening at the Livermore #LiveLoveLatch event, sponsored by La Leche League (https://www.facebook.com/events/595779233853036/) We're excited about BWI-BA partnering with other groups that are working to improve the lives of new parents in communities that we don't otherwise reach easily!

Which is not to say we aren't reaching a great many families here in the Bay Area! Meeting attendance and memberships are at record levels. Most of your membership dues are allocated to expanding our libraries, and your librarians are currently looking to fill gaps and shopping to outfit their suitcases with carriers that are in demand. If you would like to see something specific added, speak up and maybe we can make it happen!

Thanks to all who participated in our first T-shirt sale! We enjoyed showing off our Bay Area logo in Tempe and hope you love your shirt too. We raised more library funds that way as well, which we're currently discussing exactly how to spend. We hope to do another t-shirt sale for IBW coming in October. What's IBW, you ask? International Babywearing Week, October 6-12; this year’s theme is "Share the Adventure." https://www.facebook.com/groups/IntlBabywearingWeek/

Sarah Rockwell has volunteered to lead the planning for our Bay Area IBW celebration. If you have any ideas or would like to help out, feel free to send her a message!

On the subject of new carriers for the library: I'm excited to share that you all are in for a very special treat! BWI-BA member Alli Novak has generously donated a one of a kind Pavo Guild woven wrap to our lending library! It's called "Tango Love Birds" and it's flying home to Berkeley. Because we anticipate that this wrap will be very popular, for the first few months that it's in our library, we are instituting a special method for lending it out. Instead of first come, first served, we will make it available to new and current members by drawing names of those interested from a hat at the Berkeley meeting. As an incentive to boost membership, if you bring a friend along who signs up for membership, and the friend is actually interested in borrowing a more basic carrier, you may take an additional entry for that month's drawing in their place.

Lastly, thanks to all who have been enthusiastically attending our meetings and spreading the word about our group. Remember to ask your leaders for business cards so you can pass them along to new families you meet in your everyday lives, and don't forget to ask for a membership card so you can get those vendor discounts that Libby has arranged! Our meetings have been busy, we are working on many new projects, and we're always looking for new leaders. If you've been babywearing for one year, have a good attitude and passion for helping others, becoming a VBE may be the gig for you! We can help you fine tune skills in your weak areas, so don't hesitate if you've never used a pouch or a mei tai! We also would love volunteers at meetings to do various other tasks…greeting people as they arrive, helping with library check-ins and outs, etc. Send Sarah K. a message if you're interested!

Your BWI-BA officers,

Sarah Kemper, President

Holly McCroskey Lewis, Secretary/Treasurer