By Dr. Michael Meehan, Executive Director

December 21, 2015

As you may remember, we made the decision to cancel our traditional Christmas party for our Maternity Shelter clients and their babies this year.  With low census and the particular mix of kids, it was clearly the best option.  However, through the generosity of several of our Board members, Kathy and her team were able to take our moms out for a “fancy” dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory on Laclede’s Landing.  By all accounts, it was a wonderful evening and a great treat (pictures will be available by the time of our January Board meeting).  The girls used the “baby bucks” they’d earned as part of their programming to shop for special outfits in our donation room, and volunteer babysitters gave them the opportunity to have a special evening on their own.

As Kathy described it to me, “it really felt like taking a family out to dinner.”  For some of our girls, this was an entirely new experience.  Things we all take for granted, like ordering an appetizer or special entrée (pasta with shrimp was the most popular), made the night a special gift.  Perhaps most moving was that the girls were truly grateful for the event and the chance to share it with one another.  For them, the evening was something both unexpected and outside their ordinary experience.  They felt like ordinary kids on a special night out—and that was the whole idea.  The night ended with gift opening back on the unit, and the special nature of the evening clearly extended to things back at Good Shepherd.  Despite all the obstacles they’ve experienced and all that lay ahead.  It’s clear that for at least that night, these moms felt truly blessed.

Thank you for helping us make that happen. God bless.

Michael