Sampson gathers for Community Baby Shower

Around 40 expectant parents visited the Telamon Head Start Pathways to Success building Saturday afternoon for the Community Baby Shower put together in a collaboration between Grace Helping Others and Telamon Corporation.

The event promised to pamper the mothers in attendance with games, giveaways, a catered lunch, a dessert bar and even the opportunity for the mothers to get their nails done by professional nail technicians.

“I want to go ‘hey, I want you guys to relax. This is your day; we’re trying to make you feel good about yourself. We’re excited about the new baby coming, we just want you to enjoy yourself. OK, this is your day, so you’re more than welcome,’” said host Carmen Jones, from Grace Helping Others. “We just want mothers to feel excited about this day.”

But more than that, Jones felt it was also important to give these mothers as much education and resources as possible.

“We’re going to have a childbirth rep come in and talk to them about the childbirth,” Jones said. “And I feel like, the more they know, the better off they’ll be. And then if they get confused or anything, they have a resource that they can call.”

One of those resources was being able to talk to a representative from Community Care of North Carolina, whose staff had a booth set up so parents could come up to and talk to them about housing, transportation, food programs or even finding doctors.

“Any information you may need as far as housing, transportation, medical,” the community health work from CCNC, Wanda, said. “Maybe you’re looking for pediatricians and you’re a little nervous right now; I can find that information for you and help you out.”

Another resource was being able to talk to Jay Petree, a nutritionist from the WIC Office of the Sampson County Health Department. Her booth allowed parents a chance to talk to her about nutritious foods that they could buy for their children.

Lastly, there was a resource food counselor from Common Health. Parents could visit her booth to talk about food or other services offered, like medical for children and adults, dental health, behavioral health and also community services that are provided.

And, of importance, too, those attending said was that parents could also talk to each other.

Between games, one of the hosts of the event, Ana Lopez, had the parents in attendance giving advice to the new mothers. The advice ranged from breastfeeding at night to making sure the house wasn’t too quiet so that the baby could sleep through the noise.

One of the mothers attending, Larsheia Simmons, said this event was important to the community because it was helpful for the people who might not have family support.

“It’s a good event for people without family support. And it’s a good way to still acknowledge them and give them support,” she said.

Petree, who had a booth at last year’s event, said the Community Baby Shower was a nice event because “it gave to struggling mothers.”

She mentioned there was an increase in numbers from last year’s event.

“Each year has grown,” Jones said, echoing Petree’s remarks. “This is the largest that we have so far because everybody was new and didn’t really think it was free to the public, but it is.”