Event is an evening of meal preparation in the parish kitchen that allows moms from the parish to gather with an expectant mother, to help stock her family’s freezer before the arrival of a new baby.
By Reagan Scott
for the Register
Hoping to make the postpartum experience a little easier on moms, Katie Larson, a member of Assumption Parish in Dwight, has created an initiative called Meals for Mom, a dedicated time to prepare meals for expectant mothers in the parish.
This evening of meal preparation in the parish kitchen allows moms from the parish to gather together with the expectant mother to help stock her family’s freezer before the arrival of their new baby. Larson officially launched the program last year, hosting two events for two moms.
The goal of Meals for Mom is to supply dozens of meals that every expectant mom in the parish can take home with her, freeze and use as needed.
The most recent Meals for Mom event was held on Thursday, May 21 in advance of the birth of parishioner Lexie Tejral’s new baby, who is due in June. Two of the other moms in attendance are expecting babies in late June and August, and there will be a Meals for Mom event held for each of them in the coming weeks.
“I just have such a soft spot for young moms in that stage of life where up is down, and it’s so beautiful, and it’s so fleeting, and it’s also so hard.” Larson said. “So if somebody wants to stop you after church and ask, ‘How can I help?’ you’re not even going to have an answer.”
With five kids of her own, Larson well understands what postpartum life looks like, and how empty it can feel without a community, after living out of state in Kansas City for over seven years. Larson and her family moved to Dwight in December 2023, six months before their fifth child was born.
While she received meals after she gave birth, Larson thought the process could be improved. She has experienced logistical challenges with “meal train” participation as well.
She said, “I just thought, ‘This could be better.’ This is such a nice thought, but then it ends up kind of leaving the family in this weird space, where they’re not sure what’s coming, what’s happening unless you’re communicating with them a lot, but then that’s a lot of extra communication they have to manage.”
Larson described the idea of Meals for Mom as a “slow build,” formed by her own experience as a mother and knowledge of what she would prefer in the postpartum stage, and the example of her own mom.
When she was 10, Larson’s family started hosting her mom’s side of the family for Thanksgiving. For her mother, who was the 14th of 15 kids, this meant prepping food for more than 40 people. But Larson said it was never a high-stress event for her mom.
“She would work back and have her plan. What’s she going to do three days in advance, and how’s she going to stage this?” Larson said.
Her mother would later apply this same methodology to Larson’s wedding, which she catered, and a reception that she hosted for 400 people for a new priest after his first Mass.
When Larson was taking their oldest child to CCD every week she would walk by the church’s empty kitchen and thought, “Surely we could do something here.”
“I just thought, ‘This would be so cool to bulk prepare meals in this space that’s already here, so that the new mom doesn’t have to juggle any drop-off coordination.’ I was thinking about it as having little kids who get hungry at 4:30, and you’re waiting for somebody who’s going to (drop off a meal) at 6,” Larson said.
It took about a year before she felt ready to pioneer this new initiative in the parish, but she approached pastor Father Raymond Jansen last spring to ask for permission to use the kitchen, and received it.
Wanting Meals for Mom to feel small scale and intimate, Larson knew she wanted to keep the attendees to other parish moms, and anyone who the recipient would want to invite.
“It was really important to me that it was other young moms who we were asking to help, because they’re in it too. And so there’s that really unique aspect of showing up for somebody else who’s in that same season of life that you are to offer them this kind of help,” Larson said.
Eleven months ago, Alex Makovicka was pregnant with her second son, and served as Meals for Mom’s “guinea pig.” While it was out of her comfort zone, being the first recipient, Makovicka served an important role in paving the way for the initiative.
“I think we’re all just uncomfortable receiving help in that kind of way,” she said. “We always want to be helpful and give help, but to receive the help is hard. It was kind of like this first step to open the door to do this for other moms.”
Larson anticipated discomfort from the moms, knowing the feeling of indebtedness that can come from receiving help, but in having the mother help with the prep or just be present too, she hoped to lessen that feeling.
“Instead of just dropping stuff off at somebody’s porch, having it be a little more organized and much more personal, and then inviting the recipient into that space, it does a lot for community. You don’t feel as vulnerable accepting help, I think,” she said.
Makovicka had felt a tug on her heart to find ways for moms of littles like her, who may not be able to sign up for multi-hour church shifts, to get involved in parish life. Working through her own discomfort and saying “yes” to being part of Meals for Mom has helped support that very desire.
“I was honored and deeply humbled to be the first recipient, with the hope that this becomes an ongoing gift to every expectant mom in our parish, whether it’s her first or fifth child. There wasn’t a bulletin announcement or a social media post. It wasn’t flashy. It was simply moms showing up to be the village,” Makovicka said.
Held on weeknights, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., the evening requires a short commitment. Kids are also welcome, whether they’re running around the parish hall or helping the adults assemble adult meals at different stations. Larson wanted there to be as few hurdles to participate as possible.
To prepare for an evening of meal preparation, Larson sends a PDF questionnaire to the expectant mother to see what meals the family prefers, and identify any foods to avoid. The form also alleviates the need for back-and-forth texting. Some of the options include enchiladas, lasagna, pizza and cooked ground beef to add to future recipes. Larson also has breakfast options as well, like breakfast burritos, waffles, granola and muffins.
Makovicka said she appreciated the intentionality of the process, and that the meals the women made last year were things that her family eats on a regular basis.
Before each event, Larson requests a $20 donation, or whatever the attendees are able to give, to cover the cost of food that will be prepared. Larson then shops for all of the needed groceries for the meals that will be assembled.
As an extra step, Larson will prepare ingredients beforehand, cooking meat and making sauces so that preparations at the parish kitchen are all about assembly. She said she finds it an interesting mental challenge to coordinate all the moving pieces needed to pull off a successful event.
Larson said, “My goal, once we get to the kitchen, is that it’s extremely straightforward for everybody helping, and there’s minimal cooking going on… you don’t have to have people anxious about having the skillset for something or not being super comfortable in the kitchen.”
Makovicka said she was impressed by Larson’s system, which left her with a tangible good, but she said that the event did much more than that.
“I came home with dozens of meals for our growing family, but honestly, that’s the least of what I unpacked. What I really brought home was a full heart and deep desire to be the village for others,” Makovicka said.
Makovicka said that as a transplant to Dwight over three years ago, she’s grown to know other women in the parish from going to church with them, but that because of Meals for Mom, she now feels a greater sense of community with other women in the parish.
“We were all sharing stories about the fact that none of us sleep at night, and all these things that you just don’t realize you have in common and can relate to,” she said. “And for me, being a younger mom, some of these gals have more children or are more experienced in motherhood. It was great to just hear their advice and their stories and just lean on them.”
For Larson, she said she just wanted to find something tangible to do that was “truly, truly helpful” for new moms, proving that it doesn’t take much to make a big impact.
“It’s just been nice to hear that knowing food was in the freezer was incredibly helpful,” she said. “Even weeks and weeks postpartum—that’s huge, just the peace of mind.”
