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WATCH: Okanagan couple helps families mourn loss of infants

The caskets are currently available in Kelowna and Penticton

A couple from West Kelowna is supporting grieving parents in a special way.

Sue Doble-Dumoulin and Gil Dumoulin are making bunting bags, blankets, caskets, ash boxes, and memory boxes for parents who have lost their babies.

The caskets and bags are made to fit premature babies and newborns up until three months old.

Sue said the goal is to build up their inventory of sizes so they can accommodate those who ask for caskets big enough to hold a one-year-old.

The couple makes the burial clothes, caskets and ash boxes all for free. Currently, they deliver them to the Kelowna General Hospital and the Penticton Regional Hospital, but they hope to be able to make them for the whole Okanagan region and the province. They’ve already written to the BC Women’s Hospital in Vancouver to see if they can coordinate something but have not received a response yet.

The Dumoulins started making blankets and bunting bags late last year. Sue said ever since her first grandchild passed away years ago, she’d wanted to make burial clothes for babies but never took it up until recently.

They both said the goal is to help parents as they grieve their lost children.

“We want to give to people at a terrible time in their lives. To give something that will help them know that other people care about the baby that they lost. That is the whole purpose of it,” Sue said.

“To be able to help in any way, by doing this or by being with the parents to help them along, that’s our goal in life.”

The couple started out buying materials with their own money but has since received support within their community.

“The needles, thread, lumber, these are all costly. But we would do it no matter what because this is our heart… we would be wherever a parent needed us to be.”

Sue and Gil said they want more people to learn about the support they are offering, especially during these challenging times.

For more information on the burial clothes, caskets, as well as to donate, visit Sue and Gil’s website.

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Twila Amato
Video journalist, Black Press Okanagan
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Twila Amato

About the Author: Twila Amato

Twila was a radio reporter based in northern Vancouver Island. She won the Jack Webster Student Journalism Award while at BCIT and received a degree in ancient and modern Greek history from McGill University.
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