CHANDLER, AZ — Basha Accelerated Middle School in Chandler is home to the Knots for NICU club, an organization started by 8th-grader Karis Wales and a few of her friends back in 2022.
Wales herself was born prematurely.
"To start the club, I met another pair of twins in the same grade. We were in the same NICU five days apart," said Wales.
The club meets once a week to make things like beanies, headbands, receiving blankets and now burial gowns for grieving parents faced with the unthinkable loss of a newborn.
See ABC15's previous coverage in the video player below:
"There's only two ways out of the NICU, and that's either out of the NICU home with your family or not out of the NICU at all," said Wales.
"So, each of these dresses we work on with our group. We have about 30 members of the group, but only like 10 of them work on burial gowns. It's a hard thing," Wales explained.
These angel gowns could not be created without people like Mitzi Warner, who donated her wedding dress to the Knots for NICU club.
The Arizona mom says her son was born 25 weeks into her pregnancy. He spent four months in the NICU at HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea.
Doctors didn't know if he would survive.
"Being so close and knowing that life could have taken a different direction weighs on me heavily. It always will," said Warner.
Her family just celebrated her son's 8th birthday.
She tells ABC15, that knowing firsthand about all the meaningful things that can happen in the NICU makes donating her cherished wedding gown easier — especially because all of that material will help to make several beautifully detailed bereavement outfits.
"I have chills because it's... it's a resource that I hope parents don't have to go through, but if they do, they know someone's thinking of them. And that to me, just gives me so much joy in my heart," said Warner.
"They're not just fabric. They're not just a dress. The fact that they're giving this up for us. It's... I'm holding someone's memories in my hand, and I can turn them into something beautiful," added Wales.
Each box with a burial gown includes a card signed by the members of the club and a keepsake fabric heart for the families to hold onto.
There are many ways to support the mission of this sanctioned Chandler Unified School District club via CUSD Boosters 501(c)3.
To donate:
Knots for NICU
Basha High School
Attn: Knots for NICU/Dunigan
5990 S Val Vista Drive
Chandler, AZ 85249
The club is also taking more wedding dress donations. For more information on how to donate, click here.