The following email was sent to faculty and staff by Director of Service and Activism Ellie Esmond on Wednesday, November 18.
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
The holiday season is here and Civic Engagement is again organizing our annual holiday gift giving program. This year we are offering two options for giving--both with a focus on maternal health. For the eleventh year in a row, 老王论坛 Civic Engagement will partner with the Maternity Care Coalition through their Family Gift Connection program to match 老王论坛 families and departments with MOMobile families. We are also partnering with Casa Materna, a not for profit maternal health organization in Nicaragua that is Civic Engagement's first international community partner.
The College community has always shown so much enthusiasm and generosity in past years--we're looking forward to partnering with you again this season and are happy to offer the option of supporting an international organization as well as a domestic one!
Please read carefully below to find out how to participate:
Maternity Care Coalition/MOMobile Family Gift Connection
PLEASE SIGN UP BY MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30!
If your department or family is interested in participating in the MOMobile Family Gift Connection, please reply to this email and provide the following information:
1. THE NAME OF YOUR DEPARTMENT/OFFICE/FAMILY
2. THE NAME OF THE CONTACT PERSON FOR YOUR DEPARTMENT/OFFICE/FAMILY
3. THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN YOUR DEPARTMENT/OFFICE/FAMILY WOULD LIKE TO SPONSOR
Once you register with the Civic Engagement Office, I will send the contact person from your department or family a profile of the child/children you have been matched with for the holidays. Maternity Care Coalition has already sent us the profiles, so you will receive the profile information for the child or children you are matched with within one day of signing up to participate. The profile(s) will include the first name of the child/children, clothing sizes, and a short wish list of toys. You are not obligated to purchase the items on the wish list!
Gifts should be wrapped and delivered to Civic Engagement located in Dolwen, Cambrian Row by NOON on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15.
All items should be new and please plan to spend a minimum of $25 per child. (No used clothing or toys, please.)
If you're interested in participating in the MOMobile Family Gift Connection this year, please reply to this email by MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30.
To learn more about MOMobile and other Maternity Care Coalition programs, please visit their website:
Casa Materna
The Casa Materna seeks to reduce maternal and infant death rates in the Matagalpa region of Nicaragua and for over 25 years has provided pre-natal care and education for over 17,225 mothers from rural areas with high risk pregnancies. It provides a short-term residence in the city of Matagalpa, offering food, shelter, education, transportation and support to women who live in communities very far from hospitals. Though the births take place at the Regional Hospital in Matagalpa, the services of the Casa allow the expectant mothers to be close to this needed medical attention which would otherwise take hours or days to reach from their homes. After the delivery, the women receive follow up services from the Casa's community heath workers. These services include educational sessions, leadership training and the formation of mutual support groups.
Though the Casa Materna was founded by and is managed and staffed by Nicaraguans, most of its funding comes from external sources, including from a grassroots network of Circles of Support in the United States.
We learned of the Casa Materna in 2015, when two different groups of BMC and HC students visited on a trip that was part of the Reproductive Health and Social Justice course taught by Kaye Edwards. A second trip was organized through the Global Public Health 360 in the spring 2015 semester. Since then, Civic Engagement has been participating in the new Philadelphia-area Circle of Support for Casa Materna. Currently, the Praxis course, Translation Theory and Practice, is working with the Casa on a translation project and we hope that other projects develop in future semesters. This holiday season, we are inviting the campus community to support the Circle of Support's goal of raising $5,000 to support the salary of one of the Casa staff members.
Donations of either cash or check (made out to "Friends of Casa Materna") will be accepted in the Civic Engagement office, located in Dolwen, Cambrian Row. Please drop off your donation for Casa Materna with a Civic Engagement staff member between 9:30 am - 5:00 pm, Monday throughFriday. The deadline for dropping off donations for Casa Materna is Friday, December 18. Donations made by check will be fully tax deductible.
To learn more about this organization, visit their website at
Thank you, as always, for your generous support during the holidays.