CAMARILLO : ‘Operation Stork’ Aids Needy Mothers

Handmade baby booties and blankets, tiny sweaters, hats and quilts are given away by the hundreds every year to needy young mothers as an incentive to complete a free prenatal care class.

“Operation Stork,” a project started seven years ago by Camarillo B’nai B’rith Women, donates layettes--assortments of clothing, blankets and such supplies as baby powder and oil--to the Ventura Medical Center as gifts to women who complete a series of classes on how to care for newborn babies.

“We have women who work all year on blankets and booties and sweaters . . . all the things that a newborn baby can use,” said Idelle Jaffe, chapter president.

B’nai B’rith Women sponsor a benefit luncheon every year where layettes are displayed and members are asked to bring an unwrapped gift to add to the collection. This year’s luncheon will be today, and Jaffe expects that 70 to 80 items will be donated.

Throughout the year, businesses donate yarn, sewing materials and baby powder to the group. What they can’t get for free, many members manage to find on sale, Jaffe said.

Operation Stork is one of several B’nai B’rith Women’s projects.

The group has sent volunteers to the state mental hospital in Camarillo. They give financial support to a children’s home in Israel. And they are planning to give bags of toiletry items to a home for battered women.

All of the projects have one goal, Jaffe said: “How can we help women and children? How can we make their life more meaningful?”