4 Years of Housing Moms and Babies!
Celebrating 4 Years!
This past year has presented unique challenges to both myself and our community. Throughout this season, I have been gently reminded of how God illuminates the connections of His mission to the needs in our own lives. While reflecting on this year, I am prompted to share the good, the success, and the “wins” of our community; I am reminded of the beauty found in the sorrow, the trying, and reflection. Year four was not what we planned it to be, but neither are the stories of the women we love and serve. And, through our own challenges of this year, I pray that we all find an even deeper connection to our mission.
For the majority of 2020, we were focused on growth and filling our home to capacity. At the start of 2021, we faced some major growing pains and realized that we needed to focus more energy and reflection on our staffing model. With a reduced number of live-in staff came a reduced number of women that we could serve.
We realized that, like so much in this world, we did not have an easy solution. So, we took a step back to re-examine the culture of In My Shoes. Who are we and who do we want to be for the long-term? Having a few years under our belt, serving 65 moms, and employing 35 staff members, we have had the opportunity to learn and grow into our own shoes.
While continuing to house moms under our mission, we have taken more opportunities to dive into the culture of In My Shoes, and some really great things have come from this! We have spent significant time this year:
● Leaning into our Mission and Purpose.
● Creating further structure, consistency, and unity with our prayer times
● Revamping the language surrounding our Core Values
● Completing team-building exercises
● Providing further support to our courageous, compassionate, and kind Core Team Members who dedicate at least a year of their lives walking alongside our moms.
This year has certainly been a struggle, and through leaning into who we are, along with the support of our greater community of donors and volunteers, we are seeing intentional growth, and I believe, we will be stronger on the other end.
Further lessons in Solidarity
On a personal level, this year has also been particularly challenging for me – filled with both sorrow and joy. Late in February, my father was admitted to the hospital. I went up to my home state of Indiana to visit him, and, while there, learned that I was pregnant! My husband and I had been hoping and praying for this to happen. My dad was among the first to know the news.
Several weeks later, during our first annual Mother’s Day Picnic, I got to tell the moms at In My Shoes that I was pregnant. At first, they thought I was pulling a late April Fool’s joke on them! As they realized I was indeed pregnant, they were all so excited. Immediately, we started swapping first trimester woes and stories of exhaustion, nausea, foods we could/could not eat. After having done this work for over 6 years total, this was the first time I could truly relate to them on this level.
It made me think further about their situations. On average, our moms move into In My Shoes at about 25 weeks pregnant, well into their second trimester. I thought about the stories they were telling me about their first trimester, and it hit me that they were traversing that difficult period on their own, often without support, easy access to food, or a stable place to sleep. It made me thankful for the support I have, and also admire these moms even more for their perseverance through adversity.
The day after the joyful event at In My Shoes, I learned that my father had passed on to be with our Heavenly Father. I could not help but think of the irony of this life cycle, with him passing and me carrying a new life to come into the world later this year. While I have struggled with feeling sorry for myself at times, I’m also reminded of our moms’ stories at In My Shoes.
So many times after a mom has moved into In My Shoes, she has experienced the loss of a family member. In addition to this physical loss, our moms have lost many things before they come to In My Shoes – housing, stability, relationships, money, other children (through miscarriage, abortion, or state removal), independence, and the list could go on. Our moms are not strangers to loss and the accompanying grief. The silver lining is, that once they step into the home of In My Shoes, they now have someone to walk with them through their past or current grief. They have the support they need to live with and overcome their grief. And, having experienced my own grief during my own pregnancy, I am so grateful that we can provide this bit of hope for them during this time, and that I have so many women to look to as I walk this journey myself.
Maria Puccini, LMSW
maria@liveinmyshoes.org
Maria is the Executive Director and co-founder of In My Shoes. She has a diverse background working with different populations in the social work field and believes strongly in leading a trauma-informed organization utilizing the principles of Motivational Interviewing. Her passion is empowering women to lead healthy lives.