05062015Wed
Last updateFri, 01 May 2015 7pm

Expat Living

Needy moms focus of church’s Mothers Day celebration

On Sunday, May 10, besides special food and activities to honor moms, parishioners of St. Mark’s Anglican/Episcopal Church in Guadalajara will also wrap up layettes that they are assembling for new mothers who deliver babies at clinics in tiny communities west of Chapala, such as San Juan Cosala and Jocotepec.

The effort, which will continue after Mother’s Day, piggybacks on a longstanding project called Infant Care Joco that has been carried on by a group of women and recently found itself shorthanded.

“The group only donates to mothers who are in need and before they can receive the layettes, the clinics require them to complete a series of classes on baby care,” said Sue Priddy, who is organizing the effort at St. Mark’s.” Without the project, some of the mothers would wrap their new babies in newspapers or plastic to take them home, she said.

Organizers also noted that the mothers do not receive money, just the layettes, which typically include a sleeper, blanket, booties, hat, diapers, pins and sometimes extra items such as a bib, soap and diaper cream.

St. Mark’s parishioners are either buying or making the items, Priddy said, adding that clean, used baby items as well as things for slightly older babies are also fine. Busy people may give money, she said, which volunteers will use to buy baby goods. 

“There are no administrative costs in this project,” she noted.

People outside St. Mark’s are welcome to participate, organizers noted, by bringing donations to the church, located at Chichimecas 836 at the corner of Aztecas, a two-minute drive north of Plaza Mexico in Colonia Terrazas Monraz and near the end of bus route 33A. Call the church first at (33) 3641-6620 to make sure somebody is present to receive donations.