PfoHo Residents Assist Needy Families with Baby Kimonos

“Baby kimonos”—garments for infants with buttons down the side—had the place of honor last night in the Pforzheimer dining hall during a charitable clothes decorating event held by House Fellow Aviva Presser Aiden.

According to Aiden, the painted and stenciled kimonos will be sent to the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, where she hopes they will be distributed to underprivileged babies.

Aiden said she had the idea to hold the event when the house committee gave her 5-month-old son Gabriel a bodysuit with the caption “Pfoho’s favorite baby.”

She said she chose baby kimonos because they are easy to put on and often distributed to families in need in places such as hospitals.

A representative of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital has agreed to receive the kimonos, according to Aiden, but she said she is concerned that the hospital might ultimately end up refusing them because they are not in their original sanitary package.

“They want to make sure they’re not endangering the kids at all,” she said.

If the hospital refuses to take the kimonos, Aiden will send them to Room to Grow, a non-profit which supports families of young children living in poverty in New York City and Boston.

Pforzheimer House Allston Burr Resident Dean Lisa Boes took part in the event, decorating the bottom of one kimono with a few ivy leaves and a small crimson H.

“You know sometimes, less is more,” she said jokingly.

But Boes was nearly alone at the event; although Aiden advertised it over the Pforzheimer e-mail list, very few students ended up taking part in the event.

“It would have been nice if a few more people had shown up,” Aiden said, adding that many students had probably already left for Thanksgiving Break at the time of the event last night.

Aiden said that she would be holding a similar event hopefully before the end of the semester and that she hoped Pforzheimer students would then help her to decorate the remaining kimonos.

This is not the first time that Aiden has worked to help children from underprivileged families. In 2005, she and her husband founded Bears Without Borders, a charity that sends stuffed toys to children in developing countries.

“[Both charity initiatives] definitely come from the same personal place,” Aiden said.