Sewing love into every pillow
A simple hand-made pillow is bringing comfort, connection and hope to people facing some of life’s hardest moments.
Minerva Sindac-Lebmeier, a member of the Freshwater Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sydney, has helped lead the Heart2Heart project—an initiative that provides heart-shaped pillows to breast cancer patients, terminally ill children and others recovering from illness or surgery.
“Even though this is a small project, it’s just a small pillow, but you know they find comfort in this,” Ms Sindac-Lebmeier said.
Heart2Heart was established in 2019 after a young girl named Lily, who had moved to Australia from Germany, shared an idea she had seen on television about making heart pillows for breast cancer patients. Inspired by the concept, Ms Sindac-Lebmeier recognised its potential and began working with Lily and others to turn the idea into a church and community initiative.
Collaborating with a McGrath nurse at Royal North Shore Hospital, where Ms Sindac-Letmeier worked, the group officially launched Heart2Heart in March 2019. The first 50 pillows were delivered just two months later.
“I like volunteering and I thought, wow, this is something really that I can focus myself on as a volunteer,” Ms Sindac-Lebmeier said.
The project’s mission is to provide tangible expressions of compassion through hand-made heart pillows, while also creating opportunities for meaningful “heart-to-heart” conversations and mutual support.
Despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the project continued to expand. One of its ongoing partnerships has been with Bear Cottage, a children’s hospice caring for terminally ill children, where volunteers deliver around 200 pillows each year.
“It’s so touching that, you know with the little ones, you don’t need to say love or anything, just the heart pillow—it speaks for itself,” Ms Sindac-Lebmeier said. “They already felt that they are loved.”
Bronwen Simmons, Bear Cottage community relations manager, said the impact of the project has been significant.
“I think the value of the Heart2Heart project is immeasurable,” she said. “Our children and families are often going through extremely difficult times. For them, knowing that there are people in the community that are supporting them, thinking of them, sending them love and, of course, beautiful heart-shaped pillows, we really couldn’t ask for more than that.”
One particularly memorable moment for Ms Sindac-Lebmeier came when the Northern Beaches Council partnered with the project, bringing staff together for a day of sewing and assembling 200 pillows.
The project has also extended beyond hospitals and hospice care, with pillows distributed during humanitarian crises, including support efforts connected to the war in Ukraine.
