July’s Facebook Super Friend – Meet Wendy

We interrupt our normally scheduled programming to bring you something shiny and new we are trying on. Enter, HAMO’s Facebook Super Friend.

We’ve got some super awesome supporters on Facebook and figured it’s high time to acknowledge how just how special we think you all are.

Meet Wendy of Wendolonia, our inaugural Facebook Super Friend:

1) When did you first learn about diaper need?

I first read about diaper need on the Rookie Moms blog when my friend Whitney wrote about HAMO and holding a diaper drive. My youngest was an infant at the time and had just moved up to a bigger diaper size, so I donated the rest of the smaller diapers that we had in the house along with a new pack that I picked up for donation. After I gave Whitney the diapers, I couldn’t stop thinking about how awful I’d feel if I didn’t have enough diapers for my little boy and I knew I needed to get involved. I held a diaper drive via my blog a few weeks later and I’ve been pitching in with HAMO whenever I can since then.

2) What is your favorite activity to do with your kids?

I love sitting at the kitchen table and drawing pictures with them. We all inspire each other and it’s fun to see their skills grow from month to month.

3) What is *the best* thing about being a mom?

I really love watching my kids learn things and seeing their personalities develop. There is always a new surprise around the corner.

4) What are your hobbies?

Oh man — I have a lot of hobbies! I’ll try almost any craft once or twice, but some of the things I’m currently doing include decorative bento box lunches, scrapbooking, cooking, baking, and canning. I also read a lot of magazine and play a lot of Angry Birds.

5) What’s your favorite quote?

I can’t say I really have a favorite quote, but this one from Amy Poehler struck a chord with me recently:

“I get worried for young girls sometimes; I want them to feel that they can be sassy and full and weird and geeky and smart and independent, and not so withered and shriveled.”

—Amy Poehler in an interview for Bust Magazine

Thanks Wendy for being a super hero to our cause!

Wanna be a Super Friend? It’s easy:

1) Join our Facebook friends’ page

2) Post comments and/or like stuff on our page

3) Email info (AT) helpamotherout (DOT) org with your name, website (if applicable),  photo (if you have kids, with or without them), and answers to the five questions above.  You can also nominate a Super Friend!

First Birthdays #payitforward #hamo

Are we friends? We’d love to see you over on Facebook.

I’m a little belated in posting this, but it’s so freaking cute and inspiring that I hope you all can forgive me.

During our Mother’s Day fundraising drive, an East Bay group of new moms (of which Kindercyclemom Jennifer is part of) decided they wanted to something really meaningful to honor their babies’ First Birthdays. Moms group #311 of the Support Group for Mothers had all their babies turning ONE within a few months of May. In lieu of the requisite birthday gifts for each other’s children, each of the families made a $50 gift to Help a Mother Out to honor the babies.

Their simple gesture of paying it forward, yielded a collective gift of $500! That’s a little more than half a year’s supply of diapers for one baby.

It may not seem like much to larger non profits, but for us – this gift is amazingly impactful to our work and we are super honored to have Mom’s Group #311 honor their babies and celebrate their first year of motherhood this way.

Thanks to all the Mamas of group #311 (special shout out to Annika for coordinating!).

YOU are our super heroes!

Are you inspired to act? You can make an impact too! Contact us today and let us know what you are thinking.

Image from Mom’s Group #311

Seattle: Meet Carey

I came to know Carey’s story through Change.org and Mark (@hardlynormal). Mark has embarked on his Invisible People road trip again, and recently visited Carey and her family in the Seattle area.

Through my correspondence with Carey (she’s contributed some posts here), I see a smart and very capable woman who is currently stuck in a Catch 22 (employment, affordable childcare, homelessness).

Please watch Mark’s interview with her, and if you are moved to help, please take some time to think about what it is that you can do to help this family.

Carey spends hours looking for work and submitting job applications. She wants nothing more but to work and provide for her family. Do you know have contacts in the Seattle area who might be willing to think creatively in helping Carey expand her network and obtain employment? Maybe you know of a woman-owned local business who might be willing to give Carey and informational interview. Think out of the box here.

So many people in the digital space are rooting for Carey’s family I am certain fundraising first and last months rental deposit won’t be a big issue. BUT this will do no good unless we can help Carey obtain a job that will help her provide for her family.

Think about it and let me know your (out of the box) ideas.

Help a mother out.

photo credit: We Are Visible, Mark Horvath

@YvonneinLA Learns Why Diapers Matter #hamo

This is Priceless

3 Ways You Can Help #hamo

Dear Friends Old and New,

HAMO was started a little over two years ago when we became alarmed by media reports about the number of women and children falling into poverty in the Great Recession. We learned there was a dire need for diapers and decided to invest $100 and start a Mother’s Day diaper drive. To date we’ve given out over 625K diapers and endeavor to create a safety net where none exists. We’ve also raised a lot of grassroots awareness and are working with other advocates for long term change in the social safety net.

Every week we receive requests for help from agencies like WIC, Early Head Start programs,  food pantries, and family resource centers telling us that their clients are increasingly coming to them for help with basic needs, like diapers. Sadly, many must turn away families due to lack of resources. The other day I received an email about a child who was taken away from their family in part because they had sever health problems related to the family unable to afford diapers. The fact is, the need far outweighs our current resources and there is much, much more work to be done.

Our work is in partnership with you, our AMAZING community. We reached our first big milestone goal of raising $25K this spring and looking forward to amplifying our efforts exponentially in the future.

But we can’t do it alone.

Below are THREE WAYS YOU CAN HELP this summer or later this year. No one can do everything, but if we all pitch in, we can do A LOT TOGETHER. I hope you’ll consider joining us in amplifying our efforts in putting women and children first.

How You Can Help:

1) Host a diaper drive

Hosting a diaper drive is super easy and a convenient way to help. Whether it’s corralling all your friends together to contribute in person or virtually, or making it a group effort.

2) Become a Fairy Godmother

We’re not going to be coy. Funds GREATLY help support our efforts to bring diapers to children who would otherwise go without. And as a mom-powered organization we will make your monthly contribution count to a family who is lacking in basic needs.

3) Host a fundraiser

Consider sharing the cause with your network by hosting a fundraiser. However large or small, fundraisers are incredibly helpful (not to mention fun!) to rally your network and make a lasting impact on this important work. So whether it’s charging a cover for an event you are already throwing, or hosting a gathering in your private home – your efforts will make an amazing difference with our families.

We’re excited to be creating a future in partnership with you. Thank you for putting a value on our work and for helping to create this important safety net.

Got questions? Want to help make things happen? Contact us.

p.s.  Keep in touch by joining us on Facebook!

SF: a.Muse to Benefit Help a Mother Out 6/18

a.Muse, aka Lori Shantzis, would like to invite you to join in a special evening of solo performance to benefit Help a Mother Out.

Saturday, June 18th, a.Muse will perform a 30 minute version of her autobiographical piece, “Loved by You…a Self-Love Story,” chronicling her childhood and early adulthood trying to make sense of a violent and dysfunctional household.  With humor and a bit of song and dance, the muse paints a picture of the effects of growing up in a home that was nothing like the happy and elegant family of her best friend, Laura.

Ms. Shantzis will be donating 100% of the ticket proceeds to HAMO, as a way of honoring her mother and the scores of mothers who stay with violent husbands because they have no place else to go.  While she realizes that society now has a better understanding of the needs of victims of domestic violence, she also recognizes that there is a hidden epidemic of children growing up in dangerous homes, not because their mother’s don’t want to make a change, but because there are so few options.

The evening will start with a piece by comedian and story-teller Silvio Menendez (www.silviomenendez.com).  There will be a 15 minute intermission.
Awake 7:30 pm
Loved by You…a Self-Love Story 8:15 pm

Doors open at 7 pm.

$10 (to benefit Help a Mother Out, an organization improving the lives of families in need, many of whom are homeless mothers.

Refreshments will be served.

a.Muse Gallery

614 Alabama St.

SF, CA 94110

www.yourmusegallery.com

info@yourmusegallery.com

*Loved by You:

Refusing to act her age, a 40-something woman grapples with some difficult questions about her past. She decides the best way to share her story is through burlesque, exposing more than her D cup, and a few sordid details from her crazy childhood. Will she take it all off, or just drop enough clothes and dirty laundry to leave the audience wanting more?

*Awake:

Silvio, a Spanish Interpreter at a major hospital, never knows what to expect when his beeper goes off. Called to the Operating Room, he realizes he might need something more than his knowledge of Spanish Medical terminology to face this call of duty.

The more he tries to prepare, the more he realizes how little he really knows about his own possibilities, on and off work. Will he be able to stay present and awake, or will he go back into his daily dramas?

To have a.Muse perform at your next function or to have a fundraiser at a.Muse Gallery, contact:

Lori Shantzis: 415.279.6281, lorishantzis@mac.com.

Silicon Valley: Las Madres Diaper Drive – Through July 8th

Thanks to Las Madres Neighborhood Playgroups who are hosting a diaper drive for our families starting today through July 8th. We’re super grateful to all the neighborhood captains who are organizing their playgroups in order to make a difference.

Those who live in the valley know how HOT it can get in the summer months. We’re super excited Las Madres wants to make sure more bottoms are covered, more frequently this summer.

If you are local and not familiar with Las Madres, do check them out. Not only do they have a vibrant and supportive community of families that get together often, they also do a service projects that help families in need throughout the valley.

Thanks Las Madres!

Sonia Says Thank You

We’re still riding high on the love you all sent to us in April and May. Here’s a video interview of Sonia Luevanos, manager of the community health worker program at Homeless Prenatal Program.

“Ten Year” Matching Opportunity #hamo

Friends,

Late today we had a generous anonymous couple offer us a end-of campaign matching opportunity. The wife, in honor of their 10 year wedding anniversary, has requested that she and her husband gift us the last $1,000 of funds we need to raise in order to get the matching grant of 100,000 Huggies diapers.

So instead of asking for diamonds or sapphires, she’s asking for the gift of diapers. Super swell, right?

Here’s the skinny:

• If we reach $24K of our goal, our donor will match the last $1K in funds to get us to our May 31st goal of $25K.
• As of this writing we have raised $22,330.62. That’s just $1,669.38 more to go before we reach $24K and our donor couple pitches in the last $1K to honor their “Tin Year” wedding anniversary.
• If we are successful, we will reach our fundraising goal, and get to accept the bonus 100K diapers this summer.

Will you help us help more families? Click on the orange button to help.

In order to be eligible for this “Ten Year Anniversary” matching opportunity we need to raise THE LAST $1,669.38. We can reach our goal IF:

• 10 kind souls to gift us $166.94 each; or
• 20 awesome people to gift us $83.47 each; or
• 84 swell folks to gift us $20.00 each

Help us help more moms and their babies?

Thanks so much to our donor couple who are challenging all of you to help get us to our tipping point.

P.S. If you are a new friend, please check this, this, or this out to learn more about why we are raising both diapers and awareness. Thanks for stopping by!

The Cost of Being Poor

Came across this info graph you should check out. I especially found it interesting to learn that it costs on average 10% more to purchase items at smaller stores (coupled with the fact that in many states diapers are assessed sales tax – in my city the sales tax is 10%)

Bottom line: it’s expensive to be poor. In more ways than one.

Via: Online Sociology Degree

It’s Really Not for the Love of Diapers

Today I came across this video via the Birth to Five Policy Alliance featuring an interview with Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., the director for the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University:

As Dr. Shonkoff mentions in the video, the brain is prepared to be shaped by experience. “Serve and return” experiences have a direct relation to a child’s learning capacities, behaviors, as well as physical and mental well being.

And as many a parent knows, a lot happens to the brain in the first three years of life that make it crucial for a child’s basic needs to be met. This includes an accessible supply of diapers.

It means, for example, there is less chance of diaper rash and a crying baby; and more of a chance that a caregiver will be less stressed out and may be able to concentrate on pressing family matters.There are many more reasons and you can find them here.

So it’s really not for the love of diapers that this work continues. It continues because all of you put a value on healthy children and know that they have a better chance at growing up to be healthy people when their initial “serve and return” experiences support positive cognitive and social development.

At the most basic level, this means that children must be given the chance to be kept in a clean and dry diaper. And because of many of YOU, more babies are able to have better experiences that will benefit all of us in the long term.

Tucson: Diaper Bank Beginnings

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down to talk with Hildy Gottlieb and Dimitri Petropolis, founders of the nation’s first Diaper Bank, Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona formerly known as the Community Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona. I can only attempt to capture the enthusiasm and energy that they radiated in that meeting. Dimitri and Hildy are truly inspirational and it was an honor to have so much of their time. This is the first of several blog posts based upon the meeting.

It really is quite an ordinary strip mall office in mid-town Tucson. I’ve driven past it a thousand times and not given it a second thought. However, for the past 17 years or so the ideas hatching in that office have been far from ordinary and have had an extraordinary impact not only on the Tucson community, but communities across the country.

In 1994 the office was a realty business recently purchased by Hildy and Dimitri. Wanting to get back to the work that made a difference in the community, Hildy and Dimitri added consulting with local Native American tribes in sustainable, non-gaming development to their work. Nowhere in their business plan were diapers mentioned. Their work with diapers was not planned, just a bit of holiday giving gone wildly and wonderfully astray.

A couple days before Thanksgiving one of the staff members suggested that a donation of diapers to Casa de los Ninos, a local safe haven for children, might be a nice idea for the office’s charitable holiday donation. A week or so later that simple office donation had expanded into a diaper drive and then something much bigger. Rather than the typical exchanging of goods with their local business partners and fellow realtors Hildy and Dimitri sent out a message via their holiday card,

“Don’t give us _______. Give us a diaper.”

A little bit unorthodox, a little bit silly, but their partners and fellow realtors took to it and the diapers began to roll in. What if, they thought, we were to get a radio station in on this? Perhaps we could make it bigger still. They faxed all the local radio stations. Stone cold silence from most, a snicker from one, and then a peep, morning DJ Bobby Rich, at what was then Cloud FM, now MIX FM, called to say that this sounded like a good fit with Cloud. This sort of drive-by event wasn’t common back in ’94, but Bobby and his crew set up their equipment outside this small midtown office in the wee hours of the morning so that they could do the morning show and a diaper drive. It should be noted that 3 am in Tucson in December is cold, very cold, below freezing cold, so this was no small commitment. At the end of the first broadcast Bobby said “We’re in this for the long haul.” He meant it. Seventeen years later Bobby still does the diaper drive every December.

Hildy and Dimitri, along with their staff and Bobby Rich, collected over twenty thousand diapers that first drive in 1994. As the diapers rolled in so did the stories of impact. It became clear to Hildy and Dimitri that helping with this one basic need had a positive ripple effect: A parent may have received help with housing and job training, but if they have very young children they are often unable to take advantage of their job training; they can’t afford the disposable diapers that they have to leave at the childcare facility while they work. The inability to take an offered job is a devastating loss to families who are working hard to get back on their feet. The social safety net has a big gaping hole in it and its name is diapers. Help diaper a child and help a family escape poverty.

Next time: A Diaper Bank is Born and Lessons in Compassion

Photo courtesy of Creating the Future

Xavier the X-Man Wants to Double Your Money this Mother’s Day

We’re SUPER excited to announce we have a matching gift, thanks to early supporter Xavier The X-Man!

Xavier has challenged us to raise $1000 online this Mother’s Day weekend (11:59 pm May 8th). If we can do this, he will match it with another $1000. Thanks for helping us get this matching gift!

Triple threat: Remember, if we reached our $25K goal before May 31st, Huggies will match our efforts with 100,000 diapers!

You Can Help Us in May

Updated 5/16/11: We are at $20,213.37. We just have $4,786.63 to go before the end of the month. We are nervous about making our goal.

Updated 5/9/11: We have raised $18,877.51, thanks to last minute Mother’s Day tributes and Xavier the X-Man’s weekend matching challenge. Just $6,122.49 to go before May 31st.

Updated 5/6/11: We have raised $16,344.00, thanks to online gifts and checks that came via snail mail today!

Updated 5/4/11: We have raised $13,533.39! Just $11,466.61 to go until we reach our goal!

This Mother’s Day we are issuing a public appeal for help in raising much needed funds so that we may continue to operate our diaper program.

Our goal is to raise $25K before May 31st. We are nearly half way there.

Funds raised between now and May 31st will be dedicated to building our safety net fund, addressing diaper need nationwide and in California.

Help Us Get an Extra 100,000 Diapers!

GREAT news for all of you who have already contributed! Last Thursday we were offered a diaper matching challenge from our friends at Huggies.

If we can reach our fundraising goal of $25K by May 31st, Huggies will match our efforts with 100,000 DIAPERS. AMAZING news? We have already raised $10K! Thanks in no small part to many of YOU who have already chipped in.

Will you help us reach our goal?

This is your generosity in action:

“My client’s are very thankful when they have an urgent need for diapers. I’ve had many client’s who struggles especially towards the end of the month with money, and they have a sense of peace knowing they can come to us during times of emergency.”

– Community Health Worker

“We are able to provide diapers to families who are often unable to secure the most basic of needs. The diapers help them know that at least they are able to keep their babies healthy and prevent skin problems caused by dirty diapers. It also helps empower families to feel like they are good parents because they are able to care for the most basic of needs for their children that are unmet by other services like housing and food resources.”

– Social Worker

If we can reach our goal of $25K (we are nearly half way there!), we can continue our work providing diapering supplies to families who need them. Our agency waiting list long, and you’ll really make an impact with our diaper matching challenge.

On behalf of everyone at HAMO I want wish you and yours a special Mother’s Day. Thank you for helping our families and thank you for all the invaluable ways you make a difference by choosing to help a mother out.

In community,

Lisa T., co-founder & executive director

p.s. You can also help by spreading the news about our diaper matching challenge to your friends and family: blog, email, Facebook , and tweet us (@helpamotherout #hamo). We’ll be updating our progress on this webpage and also on Facebook, so please be sure to check in on our efforts!

p.s. for media types:

Help A Mother Out (http://www.helpamotherout.org/) is dedicated to increasing access to diapers for families in need. Started by two moms with modest investment of $100, and primarily through the use of free social media tools, this one time diaper drive has quickly evolved into a nationally-recognized grassroots organization raising diapers and advocating for long term change. Our vision is a day when every baby has an adequate supply of diapers.

Thank You, Ladies Home Journal

Updated 4/21/11: A little bird told us that LHJ will be on CBS The Talk on Tuesday, April 26 talking about Mother’s Day – and they will feature HAMO in their segment! Yes, Virginia – HAMO will be mentioned for the first time on a daytime talk show! Check your local listings…

A big HUG to Ladies Home Journal for giving us a shout out in their latest issue, May, 2011. Yep, we are on page 160 (the last page!), where LHJ encourages their readers to honor Mother’s Day with acontribution to HAMO!

We’re deeply honored for the unexpected shout out, LHJ.

Thank you!

Mother’s Day for me is…..

Our guest blogger today is Carey Fuller (@Indyinnz). She’s a west coast mom, who like most of us, wants the best for her kids. Thank you Carey for sharing your thoughts on Mother’s Day.

…….one day out of the year to pay homage to the woman who made your life possible! In my honest opinion, mothers are not paid enough for all that they do since for many, being a full time parent is labor of love. But what if you happen to be a homeless single mother taking care of two kids on her own? Does the holiday suddenly mean any less? Well in my case it’s a mixed bag….

I spend the day as I normally do depending on whether or not I’m able to do a load of laundry, help with homework or preparing a meal. Finding a place to sleep for the night is a daily routine as well. Many times, Mother’s Day is a reminder of how much work I have to do. You see I’m not worried about all the things I don’t have, I’m worried about the kind of future my kids will have and what kind of impact homelessness has had on them. I also worry that my kids will see me as failing them by not being able to prevent homelessness from happening.

Mother’s Day tends to be another holiday that doesn’t apply to us. For my kids, watching other kids taking their mother out for dinner with their dad is an experience they haven’t had. The best they can do is make handmade cards which means more to me than anything that can be purchased from a Hallmark store. If the day happens to be nice, we often spend it at a local park or at the library if it’s raining.

Now you may be thinking that I’d be out spending the holiday with my own mother but for those of you who don’t know how homelessness works, once you land out here, you often lose contact with your relatives and since I have never been on really good terms with my mother, it’s not even a consideration. Once we became homeless, we pretty much became invisible not only to her but several other relatives as well.

If I were granted a Mother’s Day wish, it would be that no mother (or Father) be allowed to go without basic needs like housing which is why I advocate for the homeless. How easy it is for society to blame the parents for becoming homeless yet this same society will pay a stranger to raise their kids (foster care) or threaten to take kids away because nothing was done to prevent a parent from losing their job due to downsizing, outsourcing or because of an injury or illness. Never assume that family members will come to the rescue as I can speak from my own experience that many will not.

As far as I’m concerned, every day should be a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day for the hard working parents out there doing the best they can in an economy that has fallen apart.

I can be found at http://invisibull.wordpress.com, @Indyinnz on Twitter, Carey Fuller on Facebook, Indy on Blogher.com, or come visit us at We Are Visible and Invisible People TV also on Facebook.

Photo credit via Creative Commons 2.0: _Fidelio_

Diapers and Pizza in SoCal

Two years ago I caught a fever from the co-founders of HAMO. It was unexpected, this passion I have for our cause. Perhaps I was still feeling the effects of new motherhood – my children are still very young, after all – and certainly, I’ll never be the same, affected as I am by the plight of children who are hungry, abused, sick, or otherwise ill-fated. At any rate, I was caught by surprise and I have navigated the world of working for social good within the confines of my life and the grass-roots size of our little org.

Recently I met a woman who seems to be catching this fever from me. Her life is arguably busier than mine. As an entrepreneur and mother of 6-year-old twins, with her shops spread out all over Los Angeles, Debbie Goldberg is one of the dynamic sources of the Fresh Brothers Pizza business’s remarkable branding success locally. On top of it all she makes time to give back to the community. Once she learned about Help a Mother Out, she seemed to light up with recognition and she hasn’t backed down one bit.

Because of Debbie, all the locations of Fresh Brothers Pizza will collect diapers and monetary donations for HAMO on May 7 from 11am to 4pm. Donors will receive a coupon for a one-topping pizza as a thank you. That’s no pat on the hand thank-you. That is actually some tasty pizza.

Note that the Fresh Brothers event is the day before Mother’s Day. Of course, this is a big time for HAMO. We’re all about mothers. But May 8 is also Debbie’s birthday. She chose to make this time even more hectic for herself. She wanted this.

So many reasons to celebrate. I hope I see you there.

Fresh Brothers Locations:

Manhattan Beach
2008 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
310-546-4444
Located next to Rubio’s®

Redondo Beach
407 N. PCH
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
310-374-5678
Located Next to Whole Foods®

Marina Del Rey
4722 1/2 Admiralty Way
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
310-823-3800
Marina Waterside

Westlake Village
180 Promenade Way
Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
805-777-8448
The Promenade at Westlake

Coming Soon!
Beverly Hills
250 S. Beverly Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90212

Calabasas
4751 Commons Way
Calabasas, CA 91302
818-225-7555
The Commons at Calabasas

Chandra

“The diapers that I receive here are a blessing. Had I not been given the chance to be able to receive diapers I’d find myself getting in trouble with the law. This type of service really helps a mother who struggles, especially towards the end of the month. Thank you!”

— “Chandra,” mother to one toddler boy

Sleeping babies deserve...

... a clean diaper.

“The diapers that I receive are very helpful. I am very thankful for places like this. If I had no access to these diapers my daughter would be the one suffering. There’s been many times that I have put my daughter to bed with a dirty diaper. We go through A LOT when we run out of diapers every month. Thank all of you so much.”

— “Laurie,” mom of 11 month old baby girl

Thanks to YOU, Laurie can put her baby to sleep with a clean, dry diaper. Do you feel like a super-hero? You should!