The story below is a continuation from a post we published yesterday about a local mom and her son, Declan. If you missed it, click HERE to read it. The story is both heartbreaking and inspirational.
To summarize, Linda did one of the most amazing things a mother can ever do. She turned the intense grief she felt after her son’s death into a personal mission to help other moms of hospitalized newborns. The non-profit organization is called “It’s No Monkey Business.” The charity delivers hand-crafted gift baskets to mothers of babies in area neonatal intensive care units.
In each basket, there are the following items:
stuffed monkey- baby blanket
- brochure: mom-to-mom advice
- knit hat
- disposable camera
- journal
- micro-preemie gown or shirt
Please consider buying an item for one of the monkey baskets. You can do it online in a matter of minutes.
Some of the baskets also contain a micro-preemie outfit. (NOTE: Do any of you know a local mom who is able to make micro-preemie outfits? If so, please contact Linda at info@itsnomonkeybusiness.com. These tiny outfits are often hard to find for new mothers, and Linda is currently looking for more resources for this item.)
We found this cute monkey holding a heart pictured above for only $2.47 at Amazon.com. If you’d like to order it and have it shipped to Linda for inclusion in a gift basket, please e-mail her at info@itsnomonkeybusiness.com to get her shipping address. (Click here or on the monkey above to go to the Amazon site to order it.) This is a great way to help a fellow mom without 
even leaving your desk.
To buy a monkey in Northwest Arkansas, you can find the monkey pictured right (his name is “Dangles”) at The Doll Gallery in Rogers on Walnut Street for under $8. It also comes in pink and blue.
Below, in her own words, Linda tells the story of how she started the non-profit organization as well as plans for its future. Never doubt that one mother, with God’s help, can make an enormous impact. Read on:
By Linda Richards, local mom and founder of “It’s No Monkey Business”
During my grief, I found other moms suffering the loss of a child. One of those moms had a daughter who passed away from a heart condition at two months of age, around the time Declan was born. I admired the grace she seemed to possess during her journey. This mother from South Carolina began “Annabelle Baskets” specifically for heart babies in the hospital in which her daughter was a patient.
We exchanged emails and soon I decided to make gift baskets for women in our region. The idea took on a life of its own. When the name “It’s No Monkey Business” came to me, I just knew this was it.
I talked with a nurse from Joplin about our idea and to get feedback on the brochure of advice I’d written for other moms caring for their hospitalized babies. Soon after that, we began receiving requests for baskets. We delivered our first basket to the Yockey Family from Northwest Arkansas 
in September 2008 who had their baby in a hospital in Springfield, Missouri.
We also created a basket by request for the Harper Family who had their son in Little Rock Children’s Hospital and, as many from our area know, their son was in the hospital for 7 months, received a heart transplant and is now doing well.
Our first delivery to the Freeman West Hospital in Joplin (where Declan was born and spent most of his life) was on September 20, 2008. It was a bittersweet trip for me, as I had expected it would be. With each trip to Joplin over the past year, it gets easier and easier.
When I hear from a grateful mother who received a basket or has heard about what we are doing, it gives me the courage to keep going. At the beginning of 2009, I prayed for guidance for my charity. Within a month I was contacted by Children’s Mercy in Kansas City where our son passed away and was a patient for less than two days.
Children’s Mercy was the largest hospital I had ever been in, and while I was there I was blown away by how many resources they had available for parents. For this hospital to contact me and ask for my literature left me speechless and in tears. They had seen our brochure from a mother who I can only assume was transferred there. (Because of privacy laws, I don’t get to talk with the moms often.)
The non-profit continues to grow today. I contacted Willow Creek Women’s hospital in Fayetteville, Ark. in late October and they welcomed our baskets on November 7, with much gratitude.
By the end of the 2009 we will have reached more than 140 moms with our project.
Next year we hope to put on a fundraiser, launch an improved website, begin selling t-shirts and other merchandise on behalf of the charity, and add at least one hospital to our giving.
For more information on this local non-profit organization, go to their website at www.itsnomonkeybusiness.com.
