Moma Hospital has received 100 caps for newborns, thanks to the hard work of Beth Reinhold Gold, the daughter of former Congo missionaries.

Beth, who has worked with mothers and their new babies as a lactation consultant for 37 years, said, “I know how precious life is and how much, especially small tiny babies, struggle to maintain their temperatures and grow.” Beth is the daughter of Rev. Bob and Patsy Reinhold, who were missionaries at Moma in the 1950s at the same time as the Dickersons.

Beth, who loves to knit, solicited the help of the knitting group that meets at a very small Methodist Church near her home in Virginia. It started with 10 ladies, each knitting quite a few caps. She then posted the project on her Facebook page, which attracted more friends and relatives to share their knitting talent. Beth asked for dark colored hats rather than the pink and blue ones our culture is used to.

Beth’s cousin, Gaye Cellon in Florida, found information from The Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization and developed a pattern from which she made more than 100 hats for premies. Another volunteer at the local senior center produced at least 100 hats using a spoke-type knitting loom rather than knitting needles.

More than 300 baby caps were made for the hospitals at Moma and Mboyi, another former Presbyterian mission hospital. The next challenge was how to get all of the hats to Moma Hospital.

Turns out that Dale Stanton-Hoyle, an active mission supporter and a member of MBF’s Board of Directors, was going to the Congo in May, and he would take the hats as far as Kananga. From Kananga, they will be taken to Moma at such time as a doctor or pastor is traveling to that remote area.