A Reminder of the Small Things...

What a crazy and unforgettable week! While I am trying to make this post happy and funny, I have to admit, this week is about something a bit more depressing, although the social worker in me is excited. The phrase line "you can take the girl out of social work but you can't take the social work out of the girl" (change the "social work" to a city, or any other topic and it follows the same phrase line) couldn't be more true!

This week, something came to my attention that really reminded me of just how much I take things for granted. I received an email regarding a hospital about an hour away. The email stated that pregnant women will travel down from the mountains where they live and give birth and leave with newspapers as diapers for their newborns. The email left information, including a wish list for anyone wanting to donate.

I wanted to email the hospital contact to find out what wasn't being donated. My years of non-profit work showed me that there are some things that get donated in very high quantities and others that do not get donated nearly enough; I wanted to know what wasn't getting donated. A quick response later and it turns out that the moms are not getting a lot of donations.  I was given suggestions of what would be most useful since the hospital does not provide items for baby or mom.

I was on a mission to see just how far I could spread $30 with the intention of buying clothes that are inexpensive but are not necessarily cheap feeling. Although I am not a mom, I imagine that just like baby, soft things probably feel particularly good on new moms too.

What can $30 buy you in Panama? Two pajama sets, two tank tops with removable padding (something I found might be good for moms), a dress with removable padding, four pairs of underwear and three semi decent bras.

I also have some extra feminine products around the house so I wanted to donate these also. 

I'll admit that normally I wouldn't normally donate disposable pads and tampons to a group that will likely not be able to continue purchasing them since these are a one time use item. If I could I would love to become good at sewing and make my own cloth pads for donation. Donating cloth pads is also not feasible; while cloth pads are amazing, $30 worth of postpartum pads would not go far, and let's face it, I want to try to help as many people as possible-just not one person this time. Although another time may be an exception...

I am writing this blog since for me it gives me a check of what I take for granted. Although we aren't expecting any time soon, if Robert and I have kids, I have full expectations that our baby will be brought home in either a cloth or disposable diaper with suitable clothes for both me and baby to wear. There is no doubt that if moms cannot afford extra cloths to act as diapers for their babies then there are other things that they cannot afford that I find to be everyday commodities. Helping out was a good reminder of the small things....

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