The Magnolia Project Outreach Team held the first of three Baby Showers on March 28. The shower, sponsored by Molina Healthcare, was held at Christ Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church Family Life Center adjacent to Roosevelt Gardens Housing Complex.

Pregnant women living in Roosevelt Gardens were invited to the shower to learn about the prenatal resources offered at The Magnolia Project. Alma Amoran, health educator with the Magnolia Project presented information on Long Acting Reversible Contraceptive (LARC), which many of the women present were not familiar with. Alma was very engaging and answered many questions during the presentation.

Alex Tarabochia, project AmeriCorps Service Member provided information for fathers that the women can take and give to the dads that were not present. However, there were two dads present!

The women were engaging with both presenters to the point one of the women remembered Alex and made some very positive comments regarding his ability to engage the community participants. The participants played games that educated them on infant mortality while engaged in the game and won prizes for correct answers related to various baby/prenatal topics.

One community member shared:

I appreciate all the things that was done for the community Baby Shower on Friday. We had an Awesome time and my daughter delivered that night. A healthy 9 pounds and 6 oz. BOY! I am so excited for the positive impact that you all are introducing to our Community at University Plaza Apartments. I also touched base with one of the young men and gave him the flyer that was given to me for the men. I am extremely excited for the programs they are putting in place for the fathers so they will not feel left out and as a label factor “Dead Beat Dads”. With use working together hands on hands we are on our way to better parents. Mom and Dads and from there a better community.