Mother's Day

For the past four years, I have not looked at the calendar to see when Mother’s Day falls.  I have been able to rely on the flood of emails from restaurants and retailers to remind me it is around the corner.  In truth, I don’t look because unfortunately it’s become a day I am no longer personally beholden to.

On my first Mother’s Day without my mom, those restaurant and retail emails claiming to have “the best deal” or “the ideal gift for mom” served as a barrage of painful reminders of what was not longer.  Since then, they have become a beacon of motivation that life keeps moving and there are plenty of reasons to acknowledge and celebrate this day.

Like my own mother, many moms put their children first.  This isn’t exclusive to one demographic.  It’s a beautiful, selfless trait that spans those with stable lives, homes and incomes and those without.  It is something we’re told every time Distributing Dignity makes a delivery to a program that helps women.  Understandably, a mother will prioritize her child’s needs over her own and that can result in a lack of basic items for her.  It is an indescribable privilege to provide NEW bras to these mothers.  It is a way for us to celebrate Mother’s Day all year round and say, “we know you put your children first, so please let us put you first.”

In addition to mothers, Distributing Dignity also helps young women in and aging out of foster care.  I know the influence my own mother had and still has on me today.  I cannot comprehend what it would feel like to walk in their shoes.  While a bra or a box of tampons will not fix their past, we hope in a small way we nurture their present with the underlying message these items send – “you are in our thoughts and we care about you and your future.”

We at Distributing Dignity wish all of you a peaceful Mother’s Day and extend our gratitude for all you have done to make this outreach to mothers and others possible.