When moms support moms

MOMS Club of Warner Robins is a local nonprofit chapter of an international organization that was founded by two military spouses who saw a need and embarked on a mission to fulfill it. The aim was to start a group within the community that was geared more toward helping moms and less toward providing a space for kids to be.

Having just taken on the position in July, Kristin Gandy is the new president of MOMS Club of Warner Robins. As the president, she takes care of the majority of the administrative functions as well as runs the leadership team.

“All of our events are kid-friendly, because, of course, moms can’t go places without their kids,” Gandy clarified. “But the point of MOMS Club is really to be there to support the mom. That’s always our first priority.”

MOMS is an acronym for “Moms Offering Moms Support,” and on Friday, Gandy and her team from the Warner Robins chapter came together for a two-day project to do just that for a local mother in middle Georgia.

“When we select a mom to help, she is usually somebody who is suggested by one of our members on some level,” said Gandy. “In this particular case, one of our board members was at therapy with her son, and this very nice young man was being very sweet to him. She struck up a conversation with his mother, and they built a relationship from there. She found out about this mom’s story and how her son had been diagnosed. The family was struggling, so that’s how this particular situation evolved.”

The child that Gandy spoke of is an 11-year-old boy who has been diagnosed with brain cancer. His family lives in Byron, but the child receives medical care at a facility in Warner Robins.

“His age is probably a little bit of why we felt the call to help this particular family,” Gandy pointed out. “We feel like 11 is almost a forgotten age. He’s not that cute little kid with cancer, but he’s also not an adult—that age where there’s a lot of available funding or where he can advocate for himself. Because of his age, he was a good candidate of one for us to throw our support behind.”

The multi-family yard sale that Gandy and her team pulled together was held on August 14 from 8 a.m. until 12 noon, and again, on August 15 from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. The yard on Hatchbend Court that housed the donated items was filled with everything from clothing to toys to household items and more. Cars lined the neighborhood street and the adjacent cul-de-sac as a steady stream of supporters and shoppers browsed and quickly gathered their selections for purchase. According to Gandy, their efforts resulted in great success.

“We set a pretty high bar of what we wanted to raise to help this mom through the yard sale, and we more than doubled that amount,” she raved. “We haven’t reached out to the family yet to present her with the total, because we’re actually still selling off some of the larger ticketed items. So yes, this exceeded our expectations. We’re very pleased with how it turned out.”

Per their charter with MOMS Club International, each MOMS Club chapter is required to do one child-based service each year, and having a yard sale to raise funds is something that the Warner Robins chapter endeavors to do annually.

“This was technically last year’s yard sale,” explained Gandy. “Because of COVID-19, we had to push it back. We were sort of following Houston County’s school schedule. When they started doing in-person things again, that’s kind of when we felt like it would be OK to do one.”

Going beyond what the charter requires, Gandy shared other activities in which they take active roles to be a help to mothers in and around Warner Robins. “We donate supplies to Northside Middle School’s hygiene closet where they provide shampoos, conditioners, soap, deodorant and other items for kids who may not have access to these things at home,” she mentioned. “And of course, we have our community pantry that we set up in October of last year. It’s outside of Between Friend’s Coffee Shop. That’s an ongoing project that’s open 24/7, where people can leave what they’re able to leave or take what they need to take without any strings attached.” Gandy said the pantry holds nonperishable food items, hygiene items, toys, and other supplies that will help keep the community going.

MOMS Club of Warner Robins covers the areas of Byron, Kathleen, Bonaire and of course, Warner Robins. There are currently 63 members in the local chapter, but Gandy admitted that during this time of uncertainty, some members are more actively involved than others.

“With COVID-19, things are a little different,” she stated. “Some are not so concerned about the virus, and others are very concerned about the virus. So, we try to cater to both groups. We’ve had an active virtual presence since the pandemic started. We do an event called Porch Fairies—kind of like a not-so-secret Santa—where we adopt a mom, and one day out of the month, we bring her coffee or a plant or just something that makes her feel loved and reminds her that she’s a part of the community. That’s probably our most successful supporting event right now. About 55 of our members participate in that one, which is pretty significant.”

As for the recipient of the proceeds of the recent yard sale, Gandy said, “Because her son is immunocompromised, and we’ve just been around a whole lot of people, we would want to wait at least two weeks to make sure that none of us have anything going on from being in contact with so much of the community over the last few days. How we make the presentation will be up to the mom’s comfort level. It’s very possible that we’ll just send a check and maybe do a virtual presentation.”

For more information about MOMS Club of Warner Robins or for details on how to become a part of the organization, interested parties are encouraged to look them up on their official Facebook page.

HHJ News