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Health & Fitness

Words to Live By: 'Everyone can do something'

Everyone “can do something” to help their community, says eighth-grader Sydney Tabor of Waterford, who last week donated 100 hand-knitted caps for babies in L+M’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit.

Tabor knitted almost all the hats herself (her grandmother, who she calls “a really good knitter,” made some of them, too). It took a year to reach 100, and each is unique in color and design, and perfectly sized to fit a tiny newborn.

“I worked on the hats in the car, at church, before bed and at my brother’s baseball games,” Sydney says. “I wanted to do something for the babies at L+M because my Mom and Dad always told my brother and me how lucky we are that we are healthy, and how we both were high-risk for trouble when we were born.”

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The Clark Lane Middle School pupil says it’s important for everyone to do something to help out. Tabor also held a “Zumbathon” last winter to raise money for the UConn Sandy Hook Scholarship Fund, and she helps the New London Parks and Recreation Department with a ballet program for “itty bitty ballerinas,” she says.

Karen Stone, nurse manager of L+M’s Maternity Services, said Sydney’s generosity and talent is greatly appreciated.

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“Sydney's commitment to our NICU babies touches the heart,” Stone said. “These adorable hats will not only keep our babies warm, but parents will cherish them, remembering the time when their child was most vulnerable. Sydney is an example of how each of us can make a difference."

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