Project Sweet Peas

In March 2020,  Amanda Fisher’s world shut down three days before the rest of New Jersey’s did. That’s when, on March 6, her youngest daughter, Amelia, entered the world at just 24 weeks old and weighing less than 1.5 pounds.

“It was like a movie,” says the mom of three. “It was a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.”

Not only was Amelia high risk, but during the coronavirus pandemic Fisher’s friends and family couldn’t really be there for her or do a lot to help. “At another time, I would have had friends and family and so much support, but it just wasn’t possible in 2020.”

It was isolating and lonely, Fisher says. The COVID-19 pandemic meant that only one parent per day could enter the unit, so Fisher wasn’t even able to spend much time with her husband. One of them was always at the hospital, and the other was with their two other children. 

“One day, one of my friends left a little bag filled with hand lotion, ChapStick, face wipes, and a granola bar on my car, and it meant the absolute world to me,” she says. Not only was the gift thoughtful, but it was also very practical. In the NICU, Fisher says, her hands were very dry from washing them over and over, and she wasn’t eating much because the hospital cafeteria was very limited. 

“When your child is in the NICU, you just aren’t thinking about yourself,” Fisher says. “The gift was small, but it meant so much. It made me feel supported.”

In all, Amelia spent 126 days in the NICU at Morristown Medical Center. At times, she was the most critical baby there. “When she started doing better, and things were more positive, I knew I had to do something to make sure other people in this situation feel a little less lonely and scared.”

Great Things, Small Packages

Fisher started looking for ways to give back. “I really wanted to do something that was super local and super targeted,” Fisher says. “There are a lot of big organizations doing a lot of amazing work, but I wanted to have impact closer to home.”

Project Sweet Peas was the perfect fit. The national organization has local chapters that provide support to families and caregivers of premature or sick infants, as well as families impacted by pregnancy and infant loss.

Inspired by the gift her friend left on her car in 2020, Fisher puts together care packages for parents of babies in the NICU at Morristown Medical Center. “Project Sweet Peas provides some items, and with the funds I raise I always add hand lotion and a granola bar like I received,” she says. 

The packages also include a NICU bracelet that Fisher wears every day and is engraved with the words “brave, resilient, strong.” There’s also a preemie-sized onesie “because those are hard to come by. At baby showers you normally get larger sizes,” Fisher says. 

Fisher’s desire to give back didn’t stop at care packages though. “Every day on the long walk to and from the NICU, I’d pass a donor board that mentioned the Women’s Association for Morristown Medical Center,” she says. Today, Fisher serves on the association’s executive board and is in charge of fundraising and marketing. 

Family Affair

Amelia is now a smart, energetic six-year-old who just graduated kindergarten and is taking the world by storm. Still, Fisher doesn’t forget how far her daughter has come. Last year, for Amelia’s fifth birthday, they worked together to assemble Project Sweet Peas gift bags and deliver them. It was the first time Amelia was able to go back into the NICU unit where she’d spent the first critical months of her life. 

“We took that long walk down the same hallway I’d walked down alone, where I’d waited for her alone while she had surgery, and she is now this amazing, healthy kid,” Fisher says. “It was an incredible moment.”

Her older children, Bennett and Bellamy, are also involved. “When they have a birthday party, we’ll ask that in lieu of gifts guests consider making a donation to Amelia’s Sweet Peas fund,” Fisher says.

Fisher hopes she is instilling in Amelia, and her other two children, the importance of giving back. “There’s this cute saying in the NICU, ‘It’s the little things that matter the most,’ since the babies are the tiniest things in the hospital. We try to stay true to that. Big donations are amazing and do incredible things, but that little care package I received of just basic, simple items was exactly what I needed in that moment, and for me, it made all the difference,” Fisher says. “That’s exactly what Project Sweet Peas is all about.”