Hi! My name is Melissa and I founded Moms Helping Moms, Winchester, VA over 2 years ago. We are a Facebook group dedicated to helping postpartum moms in the community. We do our best to connect them with the resources and programs available but unknown to them, and find the moms who may be struggling with our weekly mental health check-in. Our most recent developments are two programs called Club Mom and Nurturing Spaces. Club Mom will meet twice a month at our local UU church for a night of crafting and connection. Artistic talent is not required. Nurturing Spaces is a group of moms who enjoy cleaning and organizing and our goal is to help pregnant and postpartum (up to 2 years) moms prepare their homes for their new family member. We work on a sliding scale with hopes of covering the cost of supplies, gas, and coffee, as well as covering fees for a future mom who may not have any spare funds. Our most recent event, a “Free Market” or swap, was a giant success and we ultimately donated tons of clothes and household items to local charities.

My reason for fundraising is to provide this group the opportunity to be more generous towards our new moms- buying ingredients to make meal trains more successful, dropping off a gift to a mom who has suffered a miscarriage, or bringing a coffee to the mom who just had a baby and is adjusting to life with multiple children.

The community I live in is amazing, and I know we are capable of creating a model for future moms to follow. Life is different now; it’s fast paced, prices are climbing, husbands are working 12 hour days or longer, and new moms are inundated with information, advice, and judgement. What we need is support right where we are, and friends to rely on.

Thank you for your time and please consider donating to this extremely worthy cause. We need our mothers healthy and supported. Let’s stop accepting motherhood as a “thankless job” and start recognizing the work that goes into creating the next generation.

Yours Truly,

Melissa Bloodgood