Blanket of Love

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Overview
The Blanket of Love Program is a prenatal and parenting education program for young women, their spouse or friend and family. Blanket of Love creates a community of support through the combination of a welcoming meal eaten together, an educational program presentation and time for sharing with staff and other members of the group. Following the community meal, the group breaks out into prenatal education or parenting education.

Pregnant women receive childbirth education to help them understand prenatal care, labor and delivery processes and strategies for improved health of the mother and for the baby. Another part of the educational program is for young parents to help them understand their baby, the developmental stages to be expected, nutritional tips, infant care techniques and to address any concerns young parents might have. Friends and family are invited to join the single woman or couple in all aspects of the program.

Through the funding of March of Dimes during 2007, the first year of operation, the Blanket of Love served 60 young women (and their families) through prenatal education or parenting classes. The program was blessed to have healthy birth outcomes for a group of young women who otherwise would have had many challenges to healthy births.

The Blanket of Love Program meets weekly at Ebenezer Church of God in Christ at 3132 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The group gathers at 5:30 p.m. for the meal and educational and sharing meetings continue through 7:00 p.m. each Tuesday night.

The Blanket of Love is co-sponsored by Ebenezer Church of God in Christ and is funded through the March of Dimes.

To donate to the Blanket of Love program, please click here and select "Blanket of Love" for your gift designation.

Patient Stories
A Child’s Hunger
I was out recruiting for Blanket of Love, a prenatal and parenting education program for young women, at the near by Wal-Mart. I met a very pregnant young woman who was struggling to pay her bill. I approached her and invited her to join us at Blanket of Love where we create a community of support through the combination of a welcoming meal eaten together, an educational program presentation and time for sharing with staff and other members of the group. Following the meal, the group breaks out into prenatal education or parenting education groups.

The night of her first class she utilized our van service. To my surprise, this woman had two other children, boys, ages 5 and 2. As children are encouraged to come to the meetings, her children’s eyes got so big when they saw the food prepared for the welcoming meal. They all ate very well! She completed her Infant Care Plan, an assessment of her current situation and the amount of support she is receiving. She stated she had strong support from her family; however, a few weeks later, when she missed a class, we called her and her phone had been disconnected. The following Tuesday she came to class very late saying she had walked over 7 miles from her home to the church. She stated she had lost our numbers when her phone was disconnected. She explained how her food stamps had been decreased and she was out of food. She and her children were without food and were extremely hungry. The children began crying for food. We gathered food from the church kitchen to satisfy their hunger that night and also gathered money for her to buy food. After this, I could see there was a disconnect between the support she thought she was receiving from family and the support she actually had. As I drove her home, I talked to her and encouraged her to come to the local food pantry when she was out of food stamps so she and her children would not have to be in this situation again.

-As told by Julia Means, Columbia St. Mary’s Parish NurseSupport In Crisis

Support In Crisis
Marissa and Thomas (not their real names) seemed to be a simple Blanket of Love (BOL) success story. They were both regular participants in the BOL prenatal education program. The program often struggled to get men involved; but Robert seemed to look forward to coming. He was always friendly and energetic and the participants appreciated his sense of humor. Marissa and Thomas took advantage of the education and advice given by the women who are BOL staff and mentors. A healthy baby boy was born and they were overjoyed.

They weren’t done with BOL, however. They continued to be regular participants in the parenting education program. It wasn’t easy to go through the challenges of growing along with the new baby, but they dealt with the challenges together. It seemed to be a “Readers Digest” kind of success story. Until one night, Thomas was the victim of the violence that has plagued Milwaukee. He was shot and killed.

The Blanket of Love became something entirely different for Marissa. She had always enjoyed the friendship of the group through the many months of prenatal care and training. But at the time of Thomas’ death, she came to depend on the BOL community for ongoing support. Grieving is a difficult task at any time, but when a baby is involved and a family is ripped apart, it is even harder. Her BOL friends and staff now take the time to be sure that she is adjusting and grieving as well as being a good parent. All are committed to help her be the best parent she can be in keeping with the plans that she and Thomas once held together.

Baby Tara
Baby Tara was slowly starving to death.

What chance did she have when her well-intentioned, 14-year-old mother answered her cries of hunger with watered-down formula? Baby Tara seemed doomed to become one more Milwaukee infant mortality statistic—that is, until Julia Means, R.N., came to her rescue in Columbia St. Mary’s Blanket of Love program.

Funded through a March of Dimes grant secured by Columbia St. Mary’s Foundation, Blanket of Love surrounds young central city, African American mothers-to-be with childbirth education, parenting skills, problem-solving skills, mentoring and education about family communication. After the birth of her child, the young woman is welcomed back to the group along with her infant to learn more about infant care and parenting skills. Since family members are welcome to attend Blanket of Love meetings; the baby’s father and the young woman’s mother or sisters frequently attend.

Julia has found that misunderstanding about aspects of infant care is not uncommon among Blanket of Love participants. Tara’s mother is a typical example. She was purchasing premixed formula for her baby because it seemed cheaper to her. Then she decided to “water it down” to have enough for feedings between her visits to the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) food support program. Because Tara’s mother had seen other mothers add water to powdered formula, she believed she also needed to add water to the liquid formula.

The mother could not understand an explanation of why the watered-down formula was inadequate for her baby nor why powdered milk was more cost effective than premixed formula. She was convinced that one can of powdered milk was more expensive than, for example, three bottles of premixed milk. Julia had to demonstrate the “how to” and the benefits of powdered formula to the young mother by actually mixing several bottles of formula while the girl watched.

Not surprisingly, Baby Tara is thriving now that mom understands how to prepare her formula.

Contact Information

Blanket of Love Program
Tuesday Meetings 5:00 p.m.

Ebenezer Church of God in Christ
3132 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Milwaukee, WI 53204

Although the meeting is regularly held, at times the group is on a field trip away from the church; so new attendees should contact Julia Means to be sure of the time and location of the meeting they wish to attend. The program is open to any one regardless of obstetrician or delivery hospital.

Referrals:

Julia Means
Cell: (414) 793-0328

Mail: Ebenezer COGIC
3132 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Milwaukee, WI 53212