Get Terrific Avon Insect Products and Help out Low-Income Moms!

We are having an amazing fund-raiser for The Mom Foundation! From today through July 10, you can order 2 products from the Avon Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard collection, and a whopping 40% of your sale will go directly to The Mom Foundation.  Their Bug Guard Plus has an SPF of 30 and offers disappearing color so that you will know for sure that sensitive areas are covered! The Expedition formula retails for $16.99 in the current Avon catalog, but you have the chance to get 2 of them for just $14.00!

If you'd rather get some shower gel or moisture therapy products, you can get a 3-pack for just $10.  Once again, 40% of the proceeds will go directly to help us support low-income and teen moms. May you need some Shampoo and Conditioner or special foot care products...they're included, too!  If you want something special and fun for your little ones, you can get the Natural Kids combo that includes Crazy Coconut Shampoo & Conditioner, Swirling Strawberry Body Wash & Bubble Bath, Amazing Apple Detangling Spray, and Outgoing Orange Bath Time Body Paint -- all for just $10!

So come on in and make your selections. Stock up now on your Skin-So-Soft bug repellent products because they will be gone in the fall!  This is a great way to get some teacher gifts or Dirty Santa presents (after all, Christmas is ONLY 6 months away!) Or just indulge yourself - you're a mom, and you deserve it.

Help Us Help Local Military Wives!

If you follow our blog at all, you have probably realized several things about A Nurturing Moment:  we are passionate about helping moms breastfeed; we are deeply concerned about meeting the needs of low-income mothers; and we love and appreciate our military!  It is truly devastating to realize just how many military wives are also very low-income mothers. Their husbands are risking their lives for us, and the least we can do is find a way to give these precious women whatever help and support they need!

The Problem
A couple of weeks ago a young mother called for breastfeeding help. She was experiencing a lot of pain when baby latched on and was about at the end of her rope. Her husband has served in both the Army and the Marines, but she barely had enough money to drive to our office. We were able to provide her a Medela Symphony pump at a reduced rate, and her mother helped pay for the consult. But this is the reason we have a sliding scale for our consults. We desperately want to help every mother who needs it!

The Solution
Just yesterday Intuit announced a contest that we are really excited about! It's the Small Business Big Wishes contest. Beginning on December 3, Intuit will give $5000 grants to one business each day for a total of 15 days. We submitted the following wish:

We want to help the wives of those who serve our country by providing breast pumps and breastfeeding support to military wives.These brave women often survive at or below poverty level. Being alone while her husband is deployed is hard enough, but having a new baby doubles the burden. $5000 would provide postpartum support and breast pump rental to local military spouses at Redstone Arsenal.

How You Can Help
Intuit is looking at the number of votes that each project gets as part of their decision-making process. So we need to get the word out and get as many votes as we can. You can vote one time every day, so please take a few minutes to do the following:

• Go to the contest page and vote.
• Share by clicking the share button - you can share on Facebook, Twitter or via email
• Take just a minute to vote every day from now until we win!!

Thank you so much for coming alongside this project and helping us help our military wives!

Helping Low- Income Moms is Our Passion!

A Nurturing Moment exists to provide information, support and encouragement for hopeful, expectant  and new parents. We love helping new mothers successfully breastfeed their babies. But we have a particular passion for low-income and teen moms through our non-profit sister organization, the MOM Foundation. While all babies will benefit from breastfeeding, babies born to mothers living in poverty and to teen moms desperately need the specific advantages inherent to mother's milk.

We currently have several projects that are designed to support this particular group of moms and babies.

1. Bosom Buddies - this project provides gently used nursing bras to mothers who receive WIC benefits. We measure the mothers who come to us, and search through our boxes of donated nursing bras to find them two bras that will work perfectly for them. Sometimes we don't have the right size, but we really try to find something.
2. Sliding Scale Lactation Consultations - The normal fee for a lactation consultation at A Nurturing Moment is $60. We spend as much time as it takes with each mother to resolve whatever problems she and her baby are having. Some mothers just aren't able to pay that amount. So we offer a sliding-scale where mothers pay between between $10 and $60. We tell them that they can name the amount, and we don't ask any questions about financial status. The only reason we feel it necessary to ask for a $10 fee is because we have learned the hard way that when a consult is free, many times the mothers don't take our recommendations as seriously as they do when they pay a little bit for it. Occasionally, however, we do have a mother for whom $10 is a hardship, and we still provide her the help she needs.
3. Book Project - We want to purchase enough copies of Why Should I Nurse My Baby? by Pamela Wiggins so that every uninsured or Medicaid mother in Madison Copy can receive a copy.
4.  Breastfeeding Education and Support for Moms in Public Housing - We are currently planning a Baby Day kick-off event at the Oscar Mason Center. We will begin offering a support program for mothers in public housing. They will receive instruction in breastfeeding, infant massage and baby sign language, and will have the opportunity to attend weekly meetings with other moms.

We are so thankful for our ANM family. We have seen your generosity in so many ways. As we approach Christmas, we're sharing some ways that you can share the Christmas spirit with North Alabama moms and babies.

• We always need gently used nursing bras. We'll even give you a discount on your purchase when you bring them in. Save 5% for one, 10% for 2 and 15% for 3 or more. And our Christmas gift to  you is that for the month of December, this will be added to any other savings you may be receiving!''
• The MOM Foundation is looking for both individual and corporate sponsors to help subsidize the work we do with low-income mothers. If you know of someone who needs an end-of-the-year tax deduction, we can help since we are a 501 (c)3. 
• We have created a causes page on Facebook. You can help us get the word out by sharing it with everyone you know.
• Glenni's birthday is coming up, and she's created a very special birthday wish. A gift of any amount will help make a difference for a low-income mom and baby!