by Katie Patrick
It seems that each time I sign onto Facebook these days, I see yet another gender reveal video from one of my friends. The most popular have been cutting cakes, popping balloons, and lighting smoke or confetti fireworks.
My husband and I used a piñata for the announcement of our twins in May. As the candy spilled out, I was confused by the mint green color thinking at first in the sunlight it was blue, but as I reached down to pick up the chocolate-wrapped candy, “It’s a Girl!!” was clearly marked on all of the pieces. Two girls! Even though they have yet to arrive, as their mother, I’m already concerned about the teenage years of fashion, boys, and staying out past midnight. Superficial concerns perhaps, but influential ones just the same. I’m also feeling guilty for all the sleepless nights I gave my own parents when “just one more party” seemed so harmless to me back then. Honestly, I don’t know how parents sleep at all. Hopefully, I will learn.
As I think of my own upcoming sleepless nights, I can’t help but be reminded of the sleepless nights of the young mothers we serve at St. Gianna Women’s Homes and in our various programs, including emergency services, the food markets, refugee resettlement, immigration legal services, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary Counseling Center. There are often no gender-reveal parties or celebrations because the shock of an unplanned pregnancy is itself often too much to take in. Our clients are confronted with the impending disruption to their household income, which can be extremely complicated as a single parent balancing multiple jobs, childcare, and school schedules. This is not to say that all fathers are not involved — some are — but the family will still likely experience a disruption to their household income because many of the working families we serve rely on two incomes.
Recently, a staff member in Hastings, Anne VanSkiver, encountered a family through the emergency services program who was in need of rent. When Anne met with the family, she learned that the mom was seven months pregnant and considered high risk. Anne also noted that the family, with two very young children and another on the way, lacked cooking supplies, food, diapers, shoes, and money for gas as the family makes frequent trips into Lincoln to see specialists. Living on a limited income can be extremely time consuming and exhausting, and as much as this family wanted to celebrate this new little life, they were thinly stretched providing the basics for their two young children.
In response to seeing the needs of this particular family, the Hastings staff not only secured the basics but we’re throwing a baby shower! This month, visit our Hastings Facebook (facebook.com/CSSHastings) for the link to purchase and send us nursing blankets, baby lotion, bottles and much more. What we receive in extras will be saved for future families in need. While this baby shower won’t solve all the future uncertainties and obstacles this family will face, it will at least lift their spirits and allow them, as parents, the opportunity to celebrate the life of their little one.
Whether it was through an unexpected box of food, filing a visa application for permanent residency, or counseling a victim of rape, nearly every staff member at Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska has intervened in some way to save the life of an unborn child. Our programs are a gateway to building trusting relationships with our clients so that when they encounter a crisis they can turn to us for help. Your financial donations to CSS have a far greater impact than you or I can imagine. For it is never simply a box of food that an individual or family in need receives, but it’s the love, empathy, and encouragement by our staff and volunteers that truly, and ultimately, feed the poor.
