Overview: The Village House and Birthing the Culture are hosting a Community in Action: Clothing and Care Drive for families across the Inland Empire. The drive aims to provide diapers, baby clothes, wipes, menstrual products, baby carriers, formula, pregnancy and postpartum items, and new panties and bras to families in need. The drop-off location is at CrossWord Christian Church in Moreno Valley from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 21 and 28. The collected items will be distributed to families in need on April 18. Any remaining supplies will be shared with local shelters.
Alyssah Hall
The Village House and Birthing the Culture are partnering to host a Community in Action: Clothing and Care Drive for families across the Inland Empire.
Their goal is to support families with a baby supply drive on March 21 and 28. The drop off location is at CrossWord Christian Church in Moreno Valley from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Once items are collected, they will host a community distribution day at no cost to families in need on April 18.
Items being collected include diapers, gently used and clean baby clothes from newborn to 24 months old, wipes, unopened menstrual products, baby carriers, nonexpired/unopened formula, pregnancy and postpartum items, new underwear, and bras. This effort is about meeting needs with care and dignity and any remaining supplies from the distribution day will be shared with local shelters to extend the impact further.
Certified nurse-midwife (CNM) Aiyana Davison founded The Village House with a mission to create a safe and healing space where birthing families (especially those of the Black diaspora), reproductive care seekers, birthworkers, and midwifery students are supported through comprehensive, holistic, impactful and community-based midwifery care.
Doula and student midwife Jessica Reña created Birthing the Culture as a holistic informative care approach to those (especially those of the Black and Indigenous communities) in their childbearing years, including conception, pregnancy, birth, postpartum and what follows. Reña wants to make safe birthing choices accessible to her community.
“Jessica and I partnered last year during the holiday season to raise money to feed postpartum Black and Brown families in the IE. With the donations we provided several families with gift cards to local supermarkets as well as some home cooked meals. As we continued these efforts we learned of a few families who needed items like diapers and newborn clothing,” Davison said.
With some of the money that Davison and Reña raised last year, plus the items donated from the community, they were able to provide local families directly with items that they urgently needed. After witnessing the impact they made, and having conversations with local community workers, they realized there is an immense need for newborn clothing and postpartum support items.
“As birthworkers, we often see firsthand the areas in which our clients and community members struggle. Sometimes it is having enough food; sometimes it’s clothing and diapers; and sometimes even stable housing. This is why the upcoming Community in Action drive and distribution is so important. We want the community to know that there are people looking out for them and accessible resources [are] available,” Davison shared.