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It Feels Like Home
January 19, 2012
Rose of Sharon Services for Young Mothers is a not-for-profit, charitable organization providing support and educational services to pregnant and parenting young women under the age of 25 across York Region.
You can feel it when you walk in the door. It’s like it’s in the air. It’s in every smile from Carol at the front desk. It’s in the voice of every counsellor’s caring words. It’s in the eyes of every mother as they look at their beautiful children or the precious gift they’re still expecting. From the ladies in the Child Development Centre, to Melene in the classroom, it just surrounds you. It’s the backbone of the place that we’re all so thankful for. It’s love. And it comes from the hearts of the people that turned a group of friends into family.
It’s hard to forget that first meeting with your counsellor. Whether it was at home or at Rose of Sharon, the experience is the same. They give you so much more than information on schooling and parenting programs. They give you support, compassion and understanding. They give you security and hope. They listen. And maybe for the first time, we felt comfort that this journey of motherhood didn’t have to be so lonely.
They introduced us to an entirely new support system. Our own little world where judgement doesn’t exist. Where things like age, income, background and family situation just don’t matter. A place where the only label that matters is “Mommy”. We are all appreciated for who we are. To receive that from people, who really were at one point strangers to us, is what acceptance really is.
I go to school with my six month old daughter, two dozen other mothers, and their children. My teacher still remembers my name, my birthday, and what work I’m doing. But she also remembers that my favourite colour is pink and my daughter is teething. I go to school where adults ask to be called by their first names and race to the door to get a peek at the newborn that just came in. I go to school where I can talk to my friends about diapers, bottles, cribs and car seats. I go to school where women turn into mothers, newborns turn into toddlers, and classmates turn into sisters. Because of the incredible staff and volunteers, I go to school, but it feels like home.
~Kelsey Cooledge
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