The service celebrated its milestone last weekend at the Elwood Function Centre, joined by Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum, councillors and community leaders.<\/p>\n
Branch coordinator Suzy Ratcliffe, left, Suzanne Rose, Mayor Schollum and Vickie Hope celebrate the Pregnancy Help Hastings and Napier fifth anniversary. Photo \/ Derek Rossiter<\/p>\n
Branch coordinator Suzy Ratcliffe said the organisation was built on women supporting women. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a committee of all women and all our volunteers are women,\u201d Ratcliffe told Hawke\u2019s Bay Today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat creates a really strong kaupapa for us, supporting each other and supporting women in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said having a baby could be an isolating time, and one goal of the organisation was to help women stay connected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe help them find midwives, we often will suggest organisations and classes that they can attend so that they keep that connection,\u201d Ratcliffe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know there is a strong link between a mother\u2019s wellbeing and a child\u2019s wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hastings branch currently operates from Railway Rd with about 10 active volunteers, supported by a wider network of people who knit, sew, wash and repair donated items.<\/p>\n
While there is no Napier branch yet, the service supports Napier families through pop-up events and by sending baby packs through the post.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe rely fully on the community donating to us. So, whilst we feel like we\u2019re supporting women and families, we also know that they are supporting us too,\u201d Ratcliffe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about financial donations. It\u2019s about people who don\u2019t have much, but they still come back and give back to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the work often goes beyond providing clothing or equipment.<\/p>\n
One mother the group supported had been living in emergency housing, and the organisation helped out with supplies.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe later told us what a difference it made. It\u2019s not even about the items, it\u2019s about feeling supported and knowing someone cares,\u201d Ratcliffe said.<\/p>\n
The organisation also provides miscarriage support packs, created by a volunteer who experienced pregnancy loss and wanted to help other women facing the same situation.<\/p>\n
Guest speakers at the anniversary event included Hawke\u2019s Bay paediatrician and former Children\u2019s Commissioner Dr Russell Wills, who spoke about the importance of investing in early childhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must prioritise services like Pregnancy Help that support pregnant women and wh\u0101nau with young children. Because it\u2019s the right thing to do, but also for self-interest,\u201d Wills said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur economy depends on our children becoming productive citizens. The time when investment will make the biggest difference is the early years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The service celebrated its milestone last weekend at the Elwood Function Centre, joined by Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[163102,1561,5988,1342,1976,5838,30538,22638,111,43,139,69,5994,27557,2248,1530],"class_list":["post-318356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-163102","tag-bay","tag-families","tag-five","tag-hawkes","tag-help","tag-helping","tag-marks","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pregnancy","tag-supporting","tag-women","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}