On January 8, 2019, Jennifer Wammack of "Moms Helping Moms Texas" introduced her Board of Directors and gave an overview of her organization. The "Moms Helping Moms" Texas Board is pictured above from left to right. They are: Heidi Bullard, Monica Morelas, Tera Turnbull, and Jennifer Wammack.
Jennifer explained that the group started 11 years ago when she noticed some high school kids had shoes that had to be duct taped together and they saw the need to help kids from local families in the Magnolia area. Over the years, they have tried several events to help these people but now have settled pretty much on their annual "Project Hope" event which is held in December of each year where needy families come and shop for articles of clothing and toys for their kids.
Jennifer told everyone that over the years they have found that clothing is the most needed item with toys coming in at 2nd place. To get these items, they rely on the generosity of individuals to provide donations of money or items. They use the money to shop for needed items prior to their December "Project Hope" event. They work with the school counselors within MISD to determine what families need help. The families then fill out a form indicating their needs and sizes of items. Their goal is to provide a help up instead of a help out.
Prior to the December "Project Hope" event, volunteers sort the clothes and toys by both age and gender. When the event opens, families are allowed to shop for their individual needs. Some rules are in place to make sure people only take what they truly need. Each family is "checked out" as if they were in a store to make sure the rules are followed but there is no charge for anything. Jennifer then told everyone that last year (2018), they processed 1075 kids. The families actually started to line up for the event at 3:30 AM.
Jennifer then told everyone about a well dressed man who showed up several years ago in an upscale car but had been laid off several months prior. He told them that he did not have a Christmas Tree and that his kids would not have a Christmas because of the lack of funds. It just so happened that someone had donated a Christmas Tree the previous week even though they normally don't take this type of item. As a result,the man was told that he could have the Christmas Tree that had been donated earlier. This brought the man to tears. This is one of the reasons that "Moms Helping Moms" never judges anyone who shows up to an event. Jennifer then told us that several years later that same man returned as both a volunteer and a donor because of the way he had been treated.
Jennifer also talked about the Truck they use to move items and a photo of the truck can be seen below.
For more information about Moms Helping Moms Texas and ways to donate, go to: http://www.momshelpingmomstexas.com.
