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Fantastic Success for A Better Start for Babies

Our Social Action Committee succeeded in its goal of delivering even more bags of much needed items for new moms and their infants cared for at ChesPenn, a federally qualified health care clinic in Chester. In 2022 we were able to double our first year's "ABSB" donations to create 73 bags, which provided supplies for about half the newborns and their mothers who came to the clinic. In February we delivered over 90 bags in our first wave, and in June 2023 we will complete delivery of nearly 150 bags! We are accomplishing this with the help of Congregation Ohev Shalom in Wallingford and Congregation Beth El-Ner Tamid in Broomall. 

Just as exciting and gratifying is the recognition coming to this effort. The Social Action Committee just received a grant from the Foundation for Delaware County to further our ABSB goals next year, and Ashley Henderson, a pediatrician at ChePenn, just got the 2023 Mary DeWitt Pettit, MD Fellowship grant to study the effect of these bags on mothers with post-partum depression.

The A Better Start for Babies project, created by our committee, is a response to the great need of so many mothers cared for by ChesPenn. Many have no resources, often no family to support them. The list of items was developed with input from the staff and pediatricians at ChesPenn, who see the needs every day. Each bag has a monetary value of approximately $100.

The Social Action team of Judy Kinman, Julie Mayer, Carol Briselli and John Greenstine were joined on delivery day by ChesPenn pediatricians Kai Turner, Ashley Henderson and ChesPenn CEO Susan Harris McGovern.