Families with newborns at New London’s sub base can get a helping hand with their babies. It’s thanks to a nonprofit called Red, White and Bundled.
The organization was started in 2015 in North Carolina. It provides essentials to new parents in active-duty military families, from socks and diapers to cribs and strollers.
Susan Tillis founded it.
“I pulled together a baby shower in six weeks, that was our very first one in May 2015, and we are close to $1 million in donations for our junior enlisted,” Tillis said. “[It] now includes here, in Connecticut. This is the first time that we have expanded. And we get our thank you notes from these families. These thank you notes include messages that say this was the only gift that they got.”
Tillis said the bundles are part of their outreach for new military families. The families often have little support because they leave behind support systems to be deployed around the country and the world.
Captain Ken Curtin is the commanding officer of Sub Base New London. He said this type of assistance for junior enlisted sailors and their families is invaluable.
“There’s a newborn in the house or mom is pregnant, right. So, you’re 19, you're pregnant, and you're 2,500 miles away from your family, and your spouse is saying, 'Bye, I’ll be back in 6 months, oh, and by the way, no emails, no phone calls.’ In the submarine force, you don’t have that. So sometimes, the spouses are really alone and unafraid,” Curtin said.
