T’is the season to be gifting.

The Healthy Start Coalition’s annual Holiday Wish Garden is organizing its gift donation drive to support pregnant women, babies, and families enrolled in their programs who face financial hardships during the holiday season.

Mary Jo Plews, executive director of the Healthy Start Coalition of Pinellas, said that the idea for the Wish Garden came about years after when one of their programs, “Parents as Teachers Plus (PAT+),” started working with “Angels Against Abuse,” a local organization supporting foster children by providing basic needs and advocacy, in 2015.

“We were always emotional about the support from Angels Against Abuse; it was an inspiration,” said Plews. “They inspired us then to kind of duplicate that for our Healthy Start families.”

Seeing the impact throughout the years, Healthy Start decided to officially launch the Wish Garden in 2020 and have expanded it to all of their programs in the Pinellas Coalition.

The Wish Garden focuses mainly on families who are enrolled in Healthy Start’s services, and the agency has about 700 to 800 families they serve each year.

“These families are in our own visiting programs, so we know what they need,” Plews said. “We’ve expanded it to include dads and moms, but they get delivered by their home visitor to that family. So, we know exactly where that gift is going, and what wish we’re fulfilling.”

She added: “We all feel like little elves and Santa’s helpers. It’s very uplifting and really touches our heart to be able to do this.”

Plews said that every dollar donated goes directly towards the cause, and 100% of the donations support families in celebrating their holidays without the extra worry of the costs.

Julia Sharp, Healthy Start’s community development manager, said the Wish Garden initially started with sponsors shopping for a single child or family through an Amazon list. Now, businesses or organizations can sponsor families or contribute funds.

This year, the program is introducing an “Angel Tree” concept where community members can pick up wish lists at participating Grow Financial Federal Credit Union locations.

“We’re looking at folks who are going to fulfill either a child or family’s wish list, so we can make sure every kiddo and their siblings in Healthy Start have something to unwrap for Christmas, Hanukkah, for whatever holiday their family is celebrating,” Sharp said.

Navigating through challenges

With the recent government shutdown and potential decrease in SNAP benefits, Plews said families are going to be in a tough spot this holiday season.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty right now,” Plews said. “It’s tough to ask people to help us celebrate the holidays and then turn around say, well, we also need, right now, the need is food…these are tough times for most of us.”

Plews said the immediate need is food and basic supplies for families. They would like to collect grocery gift cards, nonperishable food, infant formula, and toddler snacks as part of their holiday donation drive.

The non-profit organization is also serving as a drop-off site and partnering with “The Kind Mouse,” a local food pantry, and “Babycycle Diaper Bank.”

Plews said that they are exploring grant opportunities to help meet the demand.

About Healthy Start

The Healthy Start Coalition of Pinellas is one of 32 nonprofits across Florida working to improve maternal and infant health. Founded in 1991, the coalition focuses on reducing low birth weight, preterm births, and infant mortality.

In Pinellas County, the health department provides core services, while the coalition funds and oversees programs like the Healthy Start Home Visiting Program, Parents as Teachers, and Beds 4 Babies, which has helped cut sleep-related infant deaths from 10-12 a year to about three, Plews said.

“If we can get a mom into Healthy Start by 28 weeks and see her at least six times prenatally, she’s more likely to have a baby born full term and a healthy birth weight,” Plews said. “So, we know we’re preventing those leading causes of infant death.”

Pinellas County’s infant mortality rate recently dropped to a record low of 4.1 per 1,000 births, below the national level of 5, Plews said.

“We used to have, on average, about 45 infant deaths every year,” Plews said. “Last year was 29. So, [we’re] really making progress, impacting moms, babies and families.”

Healthy Start’s home visiting program supports families from pregnancy through early childhood with parenting education, mental health and grief counseling, childbirth classes, smoking cessation, and fatherhood support. The coalition also coordinated 20 doulas who provide nonmedical birth support to about 400 families annually.

The Impact

Families often describe the impact of Healthy Start’s programs as supportive and transformative.

Noelle Moody, a program assistant of Parents as Teachers Plus (PAT+), said that parent educators often become like another family member.

“A lot of them don’t have relationships with their families and a lot of our parent educators end up being that other support person they haven’t had in their lives up until now.” Moody said. “It’s really unique to have the experience as a home visitor, to make that impact on somebody and really watch them grow over the years.”

Sharp said her favorite moments are when hesitant families embrace the home visiting program and express appreciation and joy for the experience.

“Most people, when they accept home visiting, they are ready to go, and they’ve gotten a great expectation of what to expect,” Sharp said. “Some people, they’re like, I don’t know if I want somebody in my home, I’m not sure if this is really going to be worth my time, but over and over, when I interview families about what their experiences have been like, they are just overjoyed.”

How to help

Anyone who wants to donate can help by fulfilling a personalized wish list for a local family, donating through a convenient drop-off bin, or contributing funds so the coalition can purchase and deliver gifts directly.

The deadline for donations for the Wish Garden is Dec. 5, which offers them time to organize and deliver them. Later donations are still accepted.

For more information or to donate, visit: https://healthystartpinellas.org/holiday-wishes/