Meet Local Merrimack Valley Mom Susan Karalias!
In March of 2012, local mom Susan Karalias recognized the very real demand for infant essentials among area families in need, assembling "towers of gifts" to present to new parents struggling to provide diapers, new blankets, clothing basics, and other key items for their babies. "Towers of Gifts for Newborns in Need" now partners with a wide variety of health providers and local aid agencies to offer these beautiful towers to the families they serve. We caught up with Susan to find out how it all began, and what we can do to help.
Macaroni Kid: What is Towers of Gifts for Newborns in Need (TOGFNIN)?
In March of 2012, local mom Susan Karalias recognized the very real demand for infant essentials among area families in need, assembling "towers of gifts" to present to new parents struggling to provide diapers, new blankets, clothing basics, and other key items for their babies. "Towers of Gifts for Newborns in Need" now partners with a wide variety of health providers and local aid agencies to offer these beautiful towers to the families they serve. We caught up with Susan to find out how it all began, and what we can do to help.
Macaroni Kid: What is Towers of Gifts for Newborns in Need (TOGFNIN)?
Susan Karalias: TOGFNIN helps newborns born into poverty, homelessness, and domestic abuse situations. Our “towers” contain diapers, wipes, bath products, blankets, an infant toy and clothing from size newborn to 6 months. They are created and assembled in the basement of my home. The social workers at each of our 6 agencies contact me when they have identified a “newborn-in-need.” There is no cost for our “towers” and we deliver them free of charge to our agencies.
MK: How would you describe your core mission?
Susan: Our mission is to help families living in impoverished, homeless and/or domestic abuse situations by providing them with the most basic baby necessities at the time of their baby’s birth. I had heard too many stories of families leaving the hospital without the things their baby needed, and we wanted to make sure the first months of these children’s and family’s lives were made
easier with our towers.
MK: Your kids are older now (18 and 22). What first inspired you to start TOGFNIN?
MK: Your kids are older now (18 and 22). What first inspired you to start TOGFNIN?
Susan: TOGFNIN was born from several things that were happening in my life at the time. I was working, and still work for Thom Pentucket Early Intervention as a Teacher of the Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing with children from birth to age 3. Having worked in this career for 18 years, I was seeing families that lack the basic supplies for their babies far too often. I also saw a great need for baby necessities for families in the hospital where both of our daughters were born.
My husband and I were very fortunate to be able to adopt our two beautiful daughters, and when our daughters were older, we as a family decided to become a temporary, infant foster home for The Department of Children and Families (DCF). After a year and a half, DCF decided to close their temporary foster care program. During the time our family was involved in this program, I had purchased many new baby outfits, so when the program closed I was left with tons of new and like-new baby clothes. At that time, I knew I wanted to help babies and their families in some way, but I wasn’t quite sure where to start, so I did some research on-line and in person.
I talked with many of my friends about my idea to start some sort of program to help babies in need, and a good friend of mine; told me about an organization called Community Giving Tree in Boxford. This organization helps families in need in Essex County with clothing and equipment for babies as well as clothing for toddlers to teens. All of their items are gently-used and are free of charge for the social workers that partner with them. I reached out to see if I could volunteer. After working with this organization for about a year and learning everything I could, I decided that I wanted to help Moms that did not have basic baby necessities at the time of their baby’s birth.
The first agency I approached was Emmaus House in Haverhill. I had worked with this organization through Early Intervention, and I knew that pregnant moms made up part of the population that they served. The staff at Emmaus House were thrilled with the idea and I delivered the very first “Tower of Gifts” for Newborns-in-Need to them on March 10th, 2012. It went to a little baby boy! Very shortly after this, my friend and neighbor, Charm Welch joined me and we became “The Two Nice Neighbor Ladies” at Emmaus. We consider ourselves two neighbors that just wanted to give back.
For the first year of TOGFNIN, Charm and I purchased everything for our “towers.” We scoured sales racks and searched through clothing at yard sales and consignment shops. After a year, I was encouraged to start a Facebook page, as personally buying all of the baby necessities we needed was an expensive endeavor, and my wonderful friends wanted to be able to donate to our cause and keep up with what we were doing. Since we are not an “officially recognized” non-profit organization, I did not think people would want to donate since we could not provide a charitable donation receipt. Boy was I wrong! People began to donate to us and, as they did, we were slowly able to go from helping one agency to helping six! The agencies we help include:
1.Emmaus House in Haverhill
2.Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center in Amesbury
3.DARE House in Newburyport
4.Lawrence General Hospital
5.Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport
6.The MSPCC in Lawrence
MK: What has been the response you've received so far?
Susan Karalias: The agencies we serve LOVE our “Towers of Gifts” for Newborns-in-Need. We receive many compliments on how our “towers” are put together as well as lots of praise for how many baby necessities we put into each one. We tell our social workers that the “tower” would not be possible without the generous donations from our friends and people who have found us on Facebook . We are also told of the mom’s reactions when they receive a “tower”. From huge smiles to tears of joy these moms tell our social workers how meaningful it is that complete strangers care about them and their precious new baby.
MK:Your towers are always so beautifully wrapped! Why do you think it's important to package your donated baby essentials in such a visually appealing way?
Susan: I wanted our "towers" to be very fancy/beautiful for the moms we help because most of them don't get baby showers. We want them to know that they and their baby are VERY special and totally worthy of a giant stack of beautiful gifts!
MK: What lessons have you learned from your work with TOGFNIN?
Susan Karalias: First and foremost, we have learned that there are very generous people in this world with kind and giving hearts. We have learned the true extent of the struggle some families with new babies experience on a daily basis, including stories of babies being wrapped in their father’s shirt because they didn’t have a blanket, or families being forced to adhere to a “one diaper a day” rule because that is all they could afford. Following this, we have learned that a small gesture can go further than ever imagined. One of our towers can alleviate the neglect and abuse that sometimes occurs when a baby with horrible diaper rash, dry skin, or cradle cap is fussy due to lack of a clean diaper, rash cream, baby wash, shampoo, or lotion. Finally, we have learned that some stability, no matter how little, can make all the difference in the first few months of a child’s life.
MK: How do you measure success?
Susan Karalias: We measure our success in three important ways. Firstly, we see the same people returning to donate time after time, and we know that they believe in our mission and can see the impact it has in our community. Secondly, we get to watch word of our endeavor spreading father than we ever imagined. In fact, we have been contacted by people on a national scale asking about TOGFNIN, and we hope to inspire others to do the same thing in their community. Finally, and most importantly, we get to see the gratitude on the faces of the social workers whose clients we help with our towers, and we know that each family we reach has a little less stress and a little more love to pass on to their new baby.
MK: What can we do to help?
Susan Karalias: That’s a great question! Please friend and follow us on our Facebook page, where we post weekly “What We Need Wednesdays.” People mail and deliver donations to us or we pick up locally.
We accept any of the following baby necessities:
1.Diapers
2.Wipes
3.New blankets
4.Jacket/Sweater/Snowsuit depending on the weather
5.Infant toys
6.Bath products
7.New and Like-new clothing in sizes newborn to 3-6 months
8.Hats, bibs, socks
We are so very grateful that Macaroni Kid contacted us and gave us this opportunity to spread the word about TOGFNIN.
Thank you so much!
Susan Karalias is Director of Towers of Gifts for Newborns-in-Need. Please send donations to: TOGFNIN c/o Susan Karalias 25 Little Pond Rd. Merrimac, MA 01860
*(Do you know a Mom/DAD who gives back? Nominate them today! e-mail katrinam@macaronikid.com)
