this is what the village...hilltowns; they show up for town meetings, with their kids, and advocate...
TRANSCRIPT
PO Box 146 Cummington, MA 01026 (413) 650-3640 www.HilltownVillage.org
Hilltown Village, Inc Return Service Requested
Parent Education and Support In 2019 …
• 411 families from 34 different towns attended 129 group meetings and events
“It felt so good to be in a supportive environment. It was like coming up for air.” ~ Lily
Workshops:
• “Who Needs Sleep” with Beth Grams Haxby
• “How To Have Devices Not Be Divisive for Your Family” with Kim John Payne
• “Understanding our Children: Gender Identity Development & Sexuality” with J. Aleah Nesteby
• “Hilltown Health Needs” with Baystate Health
• “Scared of The Dark: Helping Kids Manage the Monsters Under The Bed” with Dr. Ted Plimpton
• “Parenting Under Pressure” with Karen Zilberstein
• “Is it my business? A Community Response to Domestic Violence” with Safe Passage
Group Offerings:
• Moms with Mugs
• Weekday Parents Group
• Saturday Parents Group
• Caregiver and Baby Yoga • Mindful Parenting
• Families of Spirited Children • LGBTQIA+ Families
Board of Directors Nancy Madru, President
Nicole LaRoche, Vice President
Mary Lorbert, Vice President
Debora Schnappauf, Secretary
Richard Brown, Treasurer
Brenda Arbib
Gail Lucey
Jeanne Sargent
Susan Todd
Whitney Shepperd
Advisory Council Susie Arnett
Jean Cherdack
Katy Eiseman
Liz Friedman
Beth Girshman
Kathy Harrison
Carol Owen
Kim Savery
Meg Taylor
Anne Valliant
Kathryn Wakefield
Staff Lisa Dana Goding Program Director [email protected]
Mollie Hartford Development Director [email protected]
Kat Pangborn Program Coordinator [email protected]
Sarah Lewis Village Closet Supervisor [email protected]
Village Closet Coordinators Sierra-Rae Buttom Jessica Fish Stacie Goeltz Helene Tamarin
Parent Group Facilitators Stacie Goeltz Stacey Mackowiak Kat Pangborn
Childcare Providers Ash Amon Fawn Busby Sierra-Rae Buttom Hillary Hoff Charity Ritscher
Our mission is to provide free postpartum and early parenting support and essential resources to families
with babies and young children living in Western Massachusetts, and to inspire the community to welcome the newest members of their Village.
and people like you.
December 3, 2019
It takes a Village to raise a child
and YOU can be that Village.
What does the Village look like? The Village looks like you.
Make your gift today for Giving Tuesday, and you will be the Village for a family.
Raising a really young child isn't easy. Some neighbors
need your help. You in?
This is what
The Village looks like
Raising a really young child
isn't easy. Some neighbors
need your help. You in?
Make your gift today for Giving Tuesday, and you will be the Village for a family.
You will send a volunteer to rescue a mother in crisis.
You will deliver the winter coat so a baby won’t be cold this winter.
You will create the connection between a family and the community
who has promised to be there.
Give today at www.hilltownvillage.org or return the enclosed envelope.
What families need from you:
Your gift will provide the childcare for the next parent group, so a mom
can get the support she needs.
You show up for isolated families through our Home Visit Program. You make sure families have needed supplies through the Village Closet. You support families through the ups and downs with Parent Support Programs.
Fall 2019
“I want to change the world … I just need a babysitter.”
www.HilltownVillage.org /HilltownVillage
[email protected] (413)650-3640
Elizabeth and Jenny have turned their everyday “mom life” into a form of activism. “Without us making tiny people, the towns will die. And if we isolate parents and kids from the community, they are going to leave.” So they speak up against the closure of a family spaces in the Hilltowns; they show up for town meetings, with their kids, and advocate for families; and they invite other parents into their Village. “Those chances to be in the community where kids and parents are fundamentally accepted,” says Jenny, “that’s when the Hilltowns are awesome.”
Elizabeth’s initial support from It Takes a Village continues to influence how she views her role in the community. “I don’t know where I’d be as a mom if I hadn’t experienced the value in community and helping each other – to have helpers who became my friends, and then let me help them. Elizabeth and Jenny are being the Village for other mothers. Can YOU be the Village too?
Jenny, Pepin, and Elizabeth at Ashfield’s Baldwin Memorial Library
Advocating for families isn’t always easy: “We need people to be involved in the
community, but it’s really hard to organize and have a conversation
with a child standing on your legs.”
Home Visit Program Weekly home visits during a baby’s first year of life reduce social isolation and the risk of
postpartum mood disorders and their associated negative impacts on young
children while promoting maternal resilience, parent-child bonding, and access to other
community resources.
In 2019 …
• 52 families served by volunteers (up from 36 in 2018)
• 443 individual visits in 24 towns
• Over 80 newly-revised Family Welcome Kits and Resource Guides distributed to families and volunteers, AND the Digital Family Resource Guide is now online at hilltownvillage.org! Elizabeth. “I was at home, I was a mess, nobody told me how to take care of kids.” It Takes a Village
matched Elizabeth with Anna, a volunteer who visited them every week while William was a baby. “It was probably the stock photo for what It Takes a Village is – I was totally isolated, I had no clue what to do, and someone was just there helping, feeding us, and caring for me and my baby.”
Having survived the newborn years, Elizabeth and Jenny are now using their experience to support other new parents with one of the most difficult parts of parenthood – navigating a sometimes less-than-family-friendly world. “You have to have that Village, that community, that group of people who are ok with noisy kids,” says Elizabeth. “Kids are tiny people with tiny people needs. And I’m going to show up with my kids and their noises, and we need to figure out a way to work together.”
2019 Annual Report Preview
“Jeannie was a profoundly stabilizing force in the first year of my daughter’s life. It made such a difference for us, I want to
devote myself to helping ITAV so other families can experience this level of support.”
~ Whitney, mom to Rowan
The Village Closet
“I really can't say enough amazing things about Deb! We now call her Scarlett's
adopted Grandma!” ~ Jessica, mom to Scarlett
What families need from you:
Your gift will train volunteers from Franklin and Hampden County, so no
parent has to wait for visits.
The Northampton Key Club assembles safety kits for Home Visit Families
“Nana Deb” hangs out with baby Scarlett
In 2019 …
• 1,556 families from 78 different towns received items (up from 1,192 families in 2018)
• Estimated Monetary Value of items distributed: $133,074, a 74% increase over 2018
• Over 20,000 diapers distributed
• The first official Village Closet “Pop-Up” event at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Westfield
“The people at the Village Closet definitely made me feel like I was part of a family. Without them I don’t know what I would have done.” ~ Megan
BREAKING NEWS!!!
We are thrilled to announce that the Village Closet will soon have a new home!
We’re still signing papers, and once everything is in place,
we’ll announce a move date!
In the meantime, your gift today will help get those clothes into a dry store room!
Please consider giving today.
“Our clients benefit tremendously, and their children do too. They love having nice clothes for their children, and it builds attachment and positive interactions too!” Prity Shah, Healthy Families
See you at the new Village Closet!
A Family-Friendly Future One Friday morning at Baldwin Memorial Library in Ashfield, MA, a gaggle of small children color and play dress-up. Between potty breaks and breaking up fights, Elizabeth Gray and Jenny Wildermuth of Ashfield bask in noise and chaos, and reflect on how far they’ve come as parents. “Five kids ago, when I had William, I feel like I was the stereotypical first-time mom,” says
Without your support, families will be isolated, vulnerable, and unable to sustain our communities into the future.
You can make sure they have the support they need. You can Be the Village they deserve.
YOU can create a family-friendly future
What families need from you:
Your gift will supply much-needed shelves, tables, and a storage room
for the NEW Village Closet!
December 3
Fall 2019
“I want to change the world … I just need a babysitter.”
www.HilltownVillage.org /HilltownVillage
[email protected] (413)650-3640
Elizabeth and Jenny have turned their everyday “mom life” into a form of activism. “Without us making tiny people, the towns will die. And if we isolate parents and kids from the community, they are going to leave.” So they speak up against the closure of a family spaces in the Hilltowns; they show up for town meetings, with their kids, and advocate for families; and they invite other parents into their Village. “Those chances to be in the community where kids and parents are fundamentally accepted,” says Jenny, “that’s when the Hilltowns are awesome.”
Elizabeth’s initial support from It Takes a Village continues to influence how she views her role in the community. “I don’t know where I’d be as a mom if I hadn’t experienced the value in community and helping each other – to have helpers who became my friends, and then let me help them. Elizabeth and Jenny are being the Village for other mothers. Can YOU be the Village too?
Jenny, Pepin, and Elizabeth at Ashfield’s Baldwin Memorial Library
Advocating for families isn’t always easy: “We need people to be involved in the
community, but it’s really hard to organize and have a conversation
with a child standing on your legs.”
Home Visit Program Weekly home visits during a baby’s first year of life reduce social isolation and the risk of
postpartum mood disorders and their associated negative impacts on young
children while promoting maternal resilience, parent-child bonding, and access to other
community resources.
In 2019 …
• 52 families served by volunteers (up from 36 in 2018)
• 443 individual visits in 24 towns
• Over 80 newly-revised Family Welcome Kits and Resource Guides distributed to families and volunteers, AND the Digital Family Resource Guide is now online at hilltownvillage.org! Elizabeth. “I was at home, I was a mess, nobody told me how to take care of kids.” It Takes a Village
matched Elizabeth with Anna, a volunteer who visited them every week while William was a baby. “It was probably the stock photo for what It Takes a Village is – I was totally isolated, I had no clue what to do, and someone was just there helping, feeding us, and caring for me and my baby.”
Having survived the newborn years, Elizabeth and Jenny are now using their experience to support other new parents with one of the most difficult parts of parenthood – navigating a sometimes less-than-family-friendly world. “You have to have that Village, that community, that group of people who are ok with noisy kids,” says Elizabeth. “Kids are tiny people with tiny people needs. And I’m going to show up with my kids and their noises, and we need to figure out a way to work together.”
2019 Annual Report Preview
“Jeannie was a profoundly stabilizing force in the first year of my daughter’s life. It made such a difference for us, I want to
devote myself to helping ITAV so other families can experience this level of support.”
~ Whitney, mom to Rowan
The Village Closet
“I really can't say enough amazing things about Deb! We now call her Scarlett's
adopted Grandma!” ~ Jessica, mom to Scarlett
What families need from you:
Your gift will train volunteers from Franklin and Hampden County, so no
parent has to wait for visits.
The Northampton Key Club assembles safety kits for Home Visit Families
“Nana Deb” hangs out with baby Scarlett
In 2019 …
• 1,556 families from 78 different towns received items (up from 1,192 families in 2018)
• Estimated Monetary Value of items distributed: $133,074, a 74% increase over 2018
• Over 20,000 diapers distributed
• The first official Village Closet “Pop-Up” event at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Westfield
“The people at the Village Closet definitely made me feel like I was part of a family. Without them I don’t know what I would have done.” ~ Megan
BREAKING NEWS!!!
We are thrilled to announce that the Village Closet will soon have a new home!
We’re still signing papers, and once everything is in place,
we’ll announce a move date!
In the meantime, your gift today will help get those clothes into a dry store room!
Please consider giving today.
“Our clients benefit tremendously, and their children do too. They love having nice clothes for their children, and it builds attachment and positive interactions too!” Prity Shah, Healthy Families
See you at the new Village Closet!
A Family-Friendly Future One Friday morning at Baldwin Memorial Library in Ashfield, MA, a gaggle of small children color and play dress-up. Between potty breaks and breaking up fights, Elizabeth Gray and Jenny Wildermuth of Ashfield bask in noise and chaos, and reflect on how far they’ve come as parents. “Five kids ago, when I had William, I feel like I was the stereotypical first-time mom,” says
Without your support, families will be isolated, vulnerable, and unable to sustain our communities into the future.
You can make sure they have the support they need. You can Be the Village they deserve.
YOU can create a family-friendly future
What families need from you:
Your gift will supply much-needed shelves, tables, and a storage room
for the NEW Village Closet!
December 3
PO Box 146 Cummington, MA 01026 (413) 650-3640 www.HilltownVillage.org
Hilltown Village, Inc Return Service Requested
Parent Education and Support In 2019 …
• 411 families from 34 different towns attended 129 group meetings and events
“It felt so good to be in a supportive environment. It was like coming up for air.” ~ Lily
Workshops:
• “Who Needs Sleep” with Beth Grams Haxby
• “How To Have Devices Not Be Divisive for Your Family” with Kim John Payne
• “Understanding our Children: Gender Identity Development & Sexuality” with J. Aleah Nesteby
• “Hilltown Health Needs” with Baystate Health
• “Scared of The Dark: Helping Kids Manage the Monsters Under The Bed” with Dr. Ted Plimpton
• “Parenting Under Pressure” with Karen Zilberstein
• “Is it my business? A Community Response to Domestic Violence” with Safe Passage
Group Offerings:
• Moms with Mugs
• Weekday Parents Group
• Saturday Parents Group
• Caregiver and Baby Yoga • Mindful Parenting
• Families of Spirited Children • LGBTQIA+ Families
Board of Directors Nancy Madru, President
Nicole LaRoche, Vice President
Mary Lorbert, Vice President
Debora Schnappauf, Secretary
Richard Brown, Treasurer
Brenda Arbib
Gail Lucey
Jeanne Sargent
Susan Todd
Whitney Shepperd
Advisory Council Susie Arnett
Jean Cherdack
Katy Eiseman
Liz Friedman
Beth Girshman
Kathy Harrison
Carol Owen
Kim Savery
Meg Taylor
Anne Valliant
Kathryn Wakefield
Staff Lisa Dana Goding Program Director [email protected]
Mollie Hartford Development Director [email protected]
Kat Pangborn Program Coordinator [email protected]
Sarah Lewis Village Closet Supervisor [email protected]
Village Closet Coordinators Sierra-Rae Buttom Jessica Fish Stacie Goeltz Helene Tamarin
Parent Group Facilitators Stacie Goeltz Stacey Mackowiak Kat Pangborn
Childcare Providers Ash Amon Fawn Busby Sierra-Rae Buttom Hillary Hoff Charity Ritscher
Our mission is to provide free postpartum and early parenting support and essential resources to families
with babies and young children living in Western Massachusetts, and to inspire the community to welcome the newest members of their Village.
and people like you.
December 3, 2019
It takes a Village to raise a child
and YOU can be that Village.
What does the Village look like? The Village looks like you.
Make your gift today for Giving Tuesday, and you will be the Village for a family.
Raising a really young child isn't easy. Some neighbors
need your help. You in?
This is what
The Village looks like
Raising a really young child
isn't easy. Some neighbors
need your help. You in?
Make your gift today for Giving Tuesday, and you will be the Village for a family.
You will send a volunteer to rescue a mother in crisis.
You will deliver the winter coat so a baby won’t be cold this winter.
You will create the connection between a family and the community
who has promised to be there.
Give today at www.hilltownvillage.org or return the enclosed envelope.
What families need from you:
Your gift will provide the childcare for the next parent group, so a mom
can get the support she needs.
You show up for isolated families through our Home Visit Program. You make sure families have needed supplies through the Village Closet. You support families through the ups and downs with Parent Support Programs.