Pillow cases help children sleep a little better

Three times a year, Forest Lake local Jill Nason travels up to Brisbane Children’s Hospital in South Brisbane to donate dozens of hand-sewn pillowcases for children facing long hospital stays.
Ms Nason is one of 14 women who volunteer for Forest Lake’s Pillowcases for Oncology Kids, a not-for-profit organisation that makes and donates pillowcases to children in hospitals.
The charity began in 2011 when Brittany Booth, a 14-year-old from Nowra in NSW, began making and donating pillowcases for children in hospitals in NSW.
Ms Booth had spent extensive periods of time receiving medical treatment in hospitals after being diagnosed with a rare germ cell tumor, a type of cancer that can form anywhere in the body. She would bring a specific light blue pillowcase with red cherries printed on the fabric to her treatment sessions, which provided her some comfort.
In donating pillowcases to other children facing similar challenges, Ms Booth hoped she could bring them comfort too. Pillowcases for Oncology Kids has expanded Australia-wide and made it to Forest Lake. Each volunteer has a different role in the pillowcase production line, Ms Nason said.
“We buy certain lengths of fabric, 5.3m, which makes six pillow cases, and then we get to work.”
“The pillowcases just make their beds a bit brighter and make the space feel homey,” Ms Nason said.
Tasks include cutting and splitting, measuring, sewing, washing, ironing, folding, and packing the pillowcases into bags of six to be donated to the Brisbane Children’s Hospital Foundation.
“Unfortunately, we cater for babies up to teenagers, so we try to find a big spread of patterns,” Ms Nason said.
“We’ve got a box full of a dozen Christmas-patterned pillowcases that we’ve been holding on to.
“We bought the fabric ages ago, but we’ve been sitting on them until Christmas time, so we’ll donate them this week.”