Footprints NICU Ministry

Neonatal intensive care: some new parents end up there when babies are born prematurely or need extra attention after birth.

It can be a scary time. The mission of a new local ministry is to let new parents and their families know that they’re not alone. It’s called Footprints, and in seemingly small simple ways it’s making a lasting impression.

Tate Christian Burdeshaw doesn’t know he’s a little premature and needs a little extra attention.  He doesn’t know what all of these numbers and beeping sounds and squiggly lines are about.

For Tate’s mother Shalone, she’s excited about her fifth child. She’ll get to take him home tomorrow on her birthday.

Moms and dads don’t plan on being here… but when they are, they might come in contact with Nicole Collier and a ministry called Footprints.

“From the parents’ perspective, it gives the parents a little more encouragement and a little more comfort that there are many people that are praying over them,“ Collier said.

The Footprints ministry is quite simple. The group puts together care packages for parents with children in the NICU. Things like hand sanitizer, Kleenex, even a camera. 

“We know from being in the NICU that these items come in handy, and we provide a prayer request where they can provide their prayer request to us and we can send it out to our volunteers,“ Collier said.

Collier said that some 300 people might be praying for a family at any given time… and she thinks that is priceless.

“There’s not a value on it, it really is priceless what we can do for the parents,” Collier said. “Our main mission through the ministry is to let the parents know that Jesus is there and God is there and he can get them through this.“

Tate Burdeshaw is home now and doing just great. But, other babies and their families may find some friends from Footprints Ministry.  It’s a simple and caring way to reach out to people when they could use some attention themselves.

The gift bags cost $25 each, but the real value is the one-to-one contact, the sharing of faith and hope.

You can find out more about footprints by visiting their Web site.