Parenting is no joke and we can’t be the only ones who’ve had nightmares about how hard it would be raising kids solo and/or without means. Recognizing how fortunate we are, we wanted to find a way to help those who might be struggling this holiday season. Enter the nonprofit Moms for Moms, NYC.
Started by local mom Danielle Krupa and run entirely by volunteers, Moms for Moms, NYC provides essential childcare supplies and crucial support to single mothers in our area.
Hello Sitter has always been about supporting parents. And in the month of December, we’ll be supporting Moms for Moms, NYC by donating $1 of every booking to this awesome, essential charity.
We asked Danielle to tell us more about about Moms for Moms, NYC.
Danielle Krupa
First, we want to know a little about you, your family, and if you’re a working mom?
My husband Stephen and I live in Soho with our two little girls. In addition to raising my two girls and my work with Moms for Moms, I work as a recipe developer and food writer. I have a blog called Red Kitchenette, it focuses on healthy family food that is beautiful, nutritious, and easy to make.
Where did the idea for Moms for Moms, NYC come from?
It was started after the birth of my first daughter because I was inspired by my own mother. She had me when she was 19 years old and raised me on her own. She worked three jobs while putting herself through school to provide the best possible life she could for me. My mom would have given anything during those early years to have help. The smallest things make a world of difference when you don’t have much. So even a few packages of diapers or new clothes for me would have been meaningful. And there are millions of women just like her.
What are the ways Moms for Moms provides assistance to struggling parents?
We run our Project Baby Bundle initiative on a month to month basis. It’s a program designed to provide new mothers with the childcare items they need most. We have a checklist the mother fills out and we work our hardest to fulfill everything she needs. At this point, we are able to sponsor one mother a month.
We also launched a postnatal program this past year, providing over 25 new and expecting mothers with a lactation, self-care, and postpartum depression specialist. That’s something many of these women don’t normally have access to. They were able to work in small groups together and also receive one-on-one advice from each expert. It was informational, but it was also beneficial for them to connect with other new moms going through similar situations. Friendships were formed and the sentiment after that day was that they were becoming a source of support for each other. As any new mother knows, having a friend you can relate to means everything. It’s a program we absolutely want to grow in 2018.
That is seriously awesome!
Our proudest accomplishment is definitely when we hear back from the mothers we assist. Many of the mothers we help are alone, isolated, and feel like the world is against them. We have been told that we have restored their faith in kindness, that we made them believe someone actually cares about them, and that we have given them hope things will get better. I can’t think of anything to be more proud of.
How do you find the moms you help?
We help many women through word of mouth. We hope to be a place single mothers know they can reach out to for support. Whether it’s baby items, personal items, pregnancy and nursing items, information, we are here.
We also have a partnership with Win for our Project Baby Bundle initiative. Win is the largest women’s shelter in NYC (with 11 locations) and every month their social workers work together to choose a mother for us to sponsor.
What do you hope Moms for Moms, NYC will tackle in the future? What does 2018 look like?
I have a lot of ideas for how I see Moms for Moms growing in the future, a scholarship program for one. But for right now we are looking to expand our Project Baby Bundle initiative. I would like to be able sponsor more than one mother a month and also begin expanding our partnerships to other shelters and centers here in NYC. We’d also like to widen the age range of our initiative to help moms with older children providing toddler totes, kid kits, and more.
Is there anything you need that parents in the Hello Sitter community could help with?
We can always use volunteers or experts in the field of marketing, accounting, fundraising, and event planning. And our mission is moms helping moms. While it’s not required, we do love that all of our volunteers and board members are in fact moms.
Moms for Moms, NYC is run by Danielle and a handful of other moms, who all became friends as new moms five years ago. Find Moms for Moms, NYC on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
