February 2023, 
Hello! I am Sarah Toomey; I joined the ABI team at the beginning of January to be the Pregnancy Resource Coordinator. One of the amazing things I get to do as a part of this job is working with the Mentoring Moms program and helping it grow into an amazing community resource. February is shaping up to be a busy month for us. We have 2 Cooking classes, 4 Life Skills classes, and a Self Care session planned!
In our first cooking class this month we are making Pizza Casserole (a simple and easy way to make a warm meal that can use whatever ingredients you have in your cabinet!) and brownies for a sweet treat. I am very excited to get back into the kitchen with these ladies. My first cooking class was the night I realized the potential scope of impact Mentoring Moms has. Watching these women interact in the kitchen with a positive role model was an incredible experience and drives what I do every single day. One of the sweet moms commented that she had never liked canned carrots, but after a few moments in the microwave with butter and a touch of brown sugar she had changed her mind entirely.
In Life Skills during February our focus is Jobs: from filling out an application to understanding interviews to navigating the potential for continuing education, I will attempt to share with our Moms skills to help make them successful and stable in employment. There will also be a focus on setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) and how a goal without a plan is just a wish! Our first few Life Skills classes have centered around food and feeding families on a budget. We engaged in some great conversations on the topic and were able to learn greatly from each other. I look forward to the same this month!
Our Self Care session will be doing nails and enjoying some Galentines fellowship. We are going to decorate heart cookies and I intend to focus heavily on loving ourselves. Building a healthy relationship with yourself is the first step to building healthy relationships with others!
Looking ahead, we have a local nurse who is interested in providing CPR/First Aid training for Mentoring Moms on a quarterly basis. We are so over-the-moon to have this opportunity and I look forward to sharing pictures and stories from that process. I also have the goal of providing some childbirth and infant care education for our moms but am still looking for the right instructor for that. I do not feel rightly qualified for that sort of teaching. Owensboro Health offers some fabulous prenatal and childbirth classes for the community; unfortunately our moms are often unable to take advantage of those due to lack of transportation or technology. I am working hard to bring that important learning to our program!
We are so excited about our Mentoring Mothers Program! Hey everyone! Stephanie here chiming in to add that we have so many goals and ideas for this program and I am beyond thrilled to have Sarah at the helm. She brings creativity, energy, and passion to the program and to the women we serve. We have our eyes on some evidence-based parenting and self-development curriculum to begin using once we have the funding and we will be featuring a calendar of Mentoring Mothers classes on our website soon. We hope to serve more mothers-to-be and our community with this endeavor! Photoed above is our Sarah and her daughter Ava at the Christmas Party ABI hosted for our moms in December. The following photo is of me and my beautiful daughter, Sophia! Have blessed and beautiful day!!
Recent Comments