She's Super!!

Sometimes, the smallest gifts can leave the biggest impression.

Rachel Maretsky, a ninth grader at Dr. Phillips High School, makes some of these small gifts – tiny superhero capes, to be exact – and delivers them to babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Orlando Health’s Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies.

This past October marks Rachel’s third year delivering the capes, which she usually does about a week before Halloween so the babies and their families can enjoy the experience of a first costume despite spending Halloween in the NICU.

“It’s really nice to be able to give these to the families for Halloween because they’re going through so much, and something little can take their minds off of this,” says Rachel.

It can also be a challenge to find costumes small enough to fit the NICU’s patients, who are often born premature, so Rachel’s capes are a welcome gift.

Inspired by a segment she saw on The Today Show a few years ago about nurses in Kansas City who made and donated capes to NICU babies, Rachel decided to start a similar project in her own community that reflects the strength of these babies and their families. Her best friend was also a NICU baby, so the capes have a more personal meaning for Rachel, as well. She makes each cape by hand using patterns she created herself. The designs represent Batman, Batgirl, Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Incredibles and are traced, cut out of felt, and then hot-glued together.

Although Rachel’s parents sometimes help her out, making 100-plus capes is a time-consuming project Rachel undertakes in addition to school, student council, Girl Scouts, and Hebrew High School at Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation, where her family belongs.

“I think each cape takes about eight to ten minutes to make, depending on which superhero it is,” explains Rachel.

Her first year, Rachel made and delivered 110 capes. That number increased to 125 the following year and to more than 130 this year. She works with a hospital volunteer coordinator and nurses to ensure that she makes enough for each baby in the NICU and schedules a convenient delivery time. This year, Rachel’s parents came with her for the delivery. 

“I also went back on Halloween this year to see it go full-circle,” says Rachel. “We went with two NICU graduates who got the capes two years ago, so they got to see all the babies wearing capes like they did.”

The mother of those two NICU grads reached out to thank Rachel last year and even came to her house with her husband and the now-two-year-old twins to help make some capes this year.

Rachel helps even more children by volunteering for Give Kids the World Village, the nonprofit resort in Kissimmee where children with critical illnesses and their families receive accommodations and area theme park tickets. She usually volunteers in the kitchen, where she helped make salads with her father Rob, for visiting families this year. 

It is obvious Rachel displays a generosity that goes beyond her years.

“Her mom and I are very, very proud of her,” says Rob. “This is something Rachel thought up. She does the lion’s share. It just came out of her, so we’re very impressed and proud of the kindness she’s showing. I think what Rachel likes the most, and we can see it when we go with her, is how she impacts everyone. Rachel is always so happy to see the people she’s making happy. And that makes us happy.”

Rachel plans to continue making and delivering the superhero capes indefinitely.

“It really represents how the babies are super, and it’s a wonder how they are here living their lives,” she says.

Rachel’s kind spirit is a wonder, as well.