IT’S LOVE FLASH MOB DAY!!!!
Since Together Rising began, we’ve raised over a million dollars to lift up our community. Today—we overflow beyond our borders. Today, we flood the world with our love.
There has never been a Love Flash Mob closer to my heart than this one. We need more of you and more passion and more follow through than we’ve ever needed before. There are hurting/AMAZING women watching us this minute— hoping that you will care enough to help get them the care they deserve. I’ll be here sweating and praying and suffocating from hope and fear in my house. You—please—read and let your heart guide you.
Let us begin:
You know my precious friend, Tara. Tara is a midwife at a maternity center called Heartline in Port au Prince, Haiti. She helps Haitian women—who have no clean, safe, loving place to welcome their infant sons and daughters—give birth with dignity. Tara saves lives and loves mamas and gives her whole heart and her whole life to her calling. This one: Joy. Service. I know love when I see it. Tara and her family are love.
Months ago Tara wrote this about a teenager who had visited Heartline:
I couldn’t stop thinking about Asline. An hour later I sent Tara this message:
Me: Please Tara, tell me what Asline needs that I have to offer.
Tara: Asline burst into tears when she found out she was pregnant. We just hugged while she cried. I just said, “You are not the first young mom. I was a young mom – we have other young moms in the program” I asked her to come meet with me Thanksgiving morning at 10:30. Once I meet with her Thursday I will write you again. Pray that she just shows up. Off to program — today all the moms with babies born already come — super fun because these are all moms that were offered a chance to give birth and keep their kids out of an orphanage and they are all kicking ass at loving their babies.
Me: Okay- you go be with the mamas. I’ll wait to hear what’s next for Asline. I’ll pray she just shows up. Love you.
But that next Thursday, Thanksgiving, Asline did not show up. She didn’t come the next week, or the week after that. We wondered if it might be time to give up hoping. Then, the day after Christmas, this message popped into my inbox from Tara:
Tara: Friend!!!! Asline showed up today!!!! I’m giddy. Her sister gave her medicine against her will to try to get the baby out — but she was upset by it — she came today and is 11 weeks pregnant. She cried when she heard the heartbeat. And she is saying she will come back weekly and deliver here. Thanks for praying for her!!
I don’t really understand prayer. I usually forget to do it altogether. But something made me keep praying for Asline. And a few weeks later, I found myself messaging Tara again.
Me: Does Heartline need anything?
Tara: Yes, we do. We need more room. We are having to turn away too many women.
Me: What if we raised money for you to add on to the Maternity Center and add nurses?
Tara: That would be amazing, but you need to come and see if this work is right for you. Come and see.
Me: To Haiti? No thank you, I mostly want to (forget to) pray for Haiti from my couch in Naples.
But Tara kept saying that she really thought I should come. And I kept saying no. She said please and I said no. Finally, she said: Glennon. Just show up.
Tricky smart Tara, using those words against me.
That’s how Amy and I ended up in Haiti.***
When we arrived last month, Heartline’s midwife team picked us up at the airport and took us to the government-run hospital where many mothers deliver their babies. We needed to see firsthand why Heartline’s work is so desperately needed. As we drove, I kept thinking: it looks like the earthquake happened yesterday. But there was so much LIFE. So much beautiful life, so much brutal poverty. And/Both. Haiti is Brutiful.
We entered a gate flanked by armed guards, parked our ambulance, and entered a hospital that felt like a prison. We walked over slippery concrete floors and through suffocating heat, but no warmth. We went into the maternity rooms to see lines of sheet-less mattresses on metal frames. Women were laid on the beds in various stages of labor. One was in active labor, two had babies laid out next to them on the dirty mattresses, one was silently crying because she had just lost her baby. I saw no doctors while we were there, no nurses. There was no one to explain to these women what was happening to their bodies or to their babies. And there was no one to serve them. If a patient needs food, the family has to bring it. If a woman needs water, her family has to bring it. If an IV or medication of any kind is needed—the families already living in unimaginable poverty must find a pharmacy, buy an IV or medicine, and bring it to the hospital. So the women just go without. They go without food, water, and medicine. So many hurting women, so many new babies—and it was so quiet. We heard no moaning, no crying from the mamas or even from the babies. It turns out there is no reason to cry if there is no hope of help.
But then there were the midwives. Beth and KJ and Tara. They walked from bed to bed, holding women’s hands, hearing their stories, speaking to them softly in their native creole. Talking to them about breast-feeding and telling them, each and every woman they met, about Heartline’s free family planning classes and free birth control. Praying with them when they asked. Holding them if they cried. Laughing with the ones who could laugh.
Amy and I were silent as we climbed back into the car. As we pulled away from the hospital, Tara looked us and said, “And that’s why Beth started the Maternity Center.”
Beth and her husband moved to Haiti 26 years ago and right away – Beth used her degree in child development to open an orphanage. Beth cried as she told us about fathers and grandmothers who showed up at her orphanage’s gate with children hanging on their legs and newborn babies in their arms. The fathers would hold out their babies and say: “Please, take her. Give her food and get her to someone who can give her a life.” Beth would learn—over and over again—that the child’s mother had just died in childbirth. So many times this was the story—the baby’s mother is dead.
Beth listened closely. With a broken heart, she took the babies in and worked to complete their adoptions.
Running is one of Beth’s spiritual practices- she runs through the streets of Haiti, talking to God and listening hard. This running time is when she began to understand that she needed to back up a step. She needed to help mothers in childbirth and before childbirth and after childbirth so that they could live. So that they could keep and love and raise their babies. These babies didn’t need an orphanage, they needed their mamas. After a long season of listening, Beth decided to act. At 50, she started midwifery school. Then she came back and opened Heartline Maternity Center. At first she walked from Haitian door to Haitian door and asking—Are you pregnant? Is anyone pregnant here? If so, please come. I can help. Just show up.
We sat and took in Beth’s story, and then turned to KJ. KJ is 26 years old and was raised as the oldest of twelve kids in a very traditional family. But at an early age KJ felt a stirring, a knowing that her life would follow an non-traditional path. During high school, she went to Africa and fell in love with loving underserved people. She knew she wanted to serve. She came home and searched the internet until she found a website for a midwifery school in the Philippines. She looked at it and decided: I need to go there. So she graduated early and when she was seventeen years old she left her home and her parents and everything she knew and went to the Philippines.
What are you going to do there? Her mom said.
I guess I’m just going to show up, KJ said.
Beth was fifty when she followed her knowing. KJ was seventeen. Let us never say it is too late or too early to start showing up. 
After dinner, Amy and I went to our hotel room which was lovely except for a cockroach the size of a quarter pounder on the coffee table. Amy threw a tissue box on top of it and we walked around it for two days. I still can’t talk about it. Relief work is scary.
The next morning, Tara picked us up early to take us to Heartline. On the way, she explained that since Heartline has limited space, most of the mamas they serve are teenage, first-time mothers, or older mothers who have already delivered many babies. These are the women most likely to have complications that could lead to death during delivery, leaving their children orphaned. Tara also told us that in addition to pre- and post- natal care, family planning is a core part of Heartline’s work. Poverty can be defined as a lack of choices, and in a society marked by high levels of infidelity, violence against women and spousal rape, giving woman access to birth control gives them the choice to determine their future and to live a healthy life for the children they already have. To quote the wise words of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: “Every woman and girl deserves the chance to determine her own future.”
After a short drive, we pulled up to Heartline and the guarded gate opened. We left the rubble and traffic of Haiti behind and entered the oasis of the Heartline campus. Trees surrounding the building offer shade and pick up the breeze and the walls are painted bright with beautiful murals of Haitian mamas and babies. There is beauty there. Beauty is something that is harder to find outside the gate. Not impossible, but harder because there is so much pain that jumps out at you first.
The first thing that Tara did when we walked in was introduce us to the Haitian staff. Heartline believes in Haitian serving Haitians, so this is a priority for them.
The Maternity Center team (left to right): Nirva, Beth, KJ, Sherly, Tara & Winifred.
Next we greeted a large of group of women with shy smiles and big, beautiful bellies, and then we walked down to Tara and KJ’s exam room. Signs and paintings covered the walls. This one stopped me in my tracks.
Ascribe Unsurpassable Worth. This is Heartline’s motto, their mantra, their reason for being. Beth told us, “If you are a poor woman here, it is easy to be overlooked, taken advantage of and unknown. It’s different at Heartline. We know each woman by name, we know her story and we love her. That’s the difference. The women are loved here.”
Unsurpassable worth.
Then we went into Beth’s room. You see that picture on the wall, the painting on the left? It’s one of the mamas who gave birth last year to her eighth child. Her first seven babies died. But she came to the maternity center, and because of Heartline’s careful care and attention, her eighth baby lived. She lived. This mama now has a baby to hold, because of Heartline.
We spent the rest of the day quietly watching—smiling and nodding and oohing and ahhing with the moms, observing the careful care provided to all the women by the midwives and the staff. How they measured their patients’ progress, delighted with them over strong heartbeats, answered questions, provided meals.
(This is MarieCianne. She is a blind, Haitian pregnant mama. She teaches braille for a living. She did not stop smiling the whole live long day. Just thought you should know.)
During our last few hours at the clinic, we were joined by another Heartline visitor, an ob-gyn from Vanderbilt University named Dr. Chris Sizemore. Chris first came to Haiti after the earthquake and met the Heartline staff at the field hospital they erected inside the rubble to care for the earthquake victims. Dr. Sizemore told us, “Heartline does some of the best work I’ve ever seen. The care they give, the expertise, the respect for these women—they are doing it right.”
For the very last appointment of the day, Tara ushered a quiet, scared woman into the exam room. We greeted her and she nodded without meeting our eyes. Tara explained to us quietly that weeks before, when she was ten weeks pregnant, she’d been severely beaten by her husband. She moved in with her mother but since that day, she’d been terrified that her baby was hurt, or worse. When she heard that Dr. Chris was in the office doing ultrasounds, she came to Tara and said: “Please ask him to look at my baby. I am afraid. Please tell me if my baby is okay.”
Chris started the exam while Tara held the woman’s hand and followed along. We all held our breath. I prayed: please please please please please.
Chris spent careful time looking over every aspect of the ultrasound. It felt like one million hours. Then he smiled, looked right at the woman and said, “Your baby is perfect. Perfectly healthy. And you’re having a boy.”
And the woman’s face lit up like the sun. And we all breathed.
Afterwards I just stared at Tara. She said Every day. This is what it’s like here every day.
Every day (and throughout the long nights), the women of Heartline pour out their lives for moments like this. So that mamas can hear they have healthy babies, and babies can grow up in their mothers’ arms. Haiti has the highest rate of maternal and infant mortality in the Western Hemisphere. Two out of 3 childbirths in Haiti occur without a skilled birth attendant. One in 83 Haitian women will die as a result of childbirth. Yet, Heartline has never lost a mother. But due to too-little capacity and resources, Heartline is forced to turn away more women than they can serve. Each year Heartline is forced to say no to hundreds of women desperate for a safe place to start their child’s life and their motherhood.
I decided to visit Heartline because I wanted to see the work with my own eyes, and also because I was a little bit worried about the religious aspect. I am a self proclaimed Jesus freak- but I am wholly uninterested in any organization that is trading love for Jesus. I only want to work with people who love without agenda or ulterior motive. I am more skeptical about this than any atheist I’ve ever met- my team will tell you that. I am the leader of this beautiful, diverse community made of all faiths and those who understand the world in ways unrelated to faith. So my job is to look at Love Work with ALL of our eyes. And I can tell you that if you believe in Love, you’d believe Heartline’s work. This work of fiercely and tenderly serving women and children. The work of loving the vulnerable and the marginalized and the forgotten like they are the most beloved creatures on Earth—cherished, adored, valued—because that is the truth. There is no trading service for religion here. Love with no strings attached is the agenda.
Here’s where we come in.
The midwives of Heartline desperately want to add another wing to their beautiful maternity center. They want more exam rooms, more postpartum rooms, more teaching rooms. They want to stop turning so many women away who are desperate to bring their babies into the world in safety and dignity.
So we are going to build it for them.
The architects have drawn up the plans. The contractors are standing by. The midwives are watching. The mamas are waiting.
For US. For YOU.
Here’s the spot. Here is where the haven for our sisters will be. This is the spot upon which LOVE WILL BUILD.
If we raise the funds needed today- LOVE WILL START BUILDING IN TWO WEEKS.
Our sisters at Heartline have been brave and mighty and vulnerable enough to be open to our service. They have said: Will you help? Please, let us answer them: YES. YES because you deserve to deliver your precious baby safely and watch her grow. YES because
you are a woman of unsurpassable worth.
Here’s a picture of a birthing room at Heartline. See that line in Creole? It says, “She believed she could, so she did.”
And finally, meet baby Sarah. Sarah’s mommy and daddy suffered two mid-pregnancy losses before she was born. Sarah’s mom and dad let us borrow her for a minute, and while we were taking these pictures, Amy started crying. That doesn’t happen often—she’s pretty steady-eddy. “What’s up?” I asked. Amy told me that she was thinking about all those years I’d spent heartbroken about the dead ends of my adoption dream. She said watching me hold Sarah, she wondered if maybe God put that dream in my heart so it would lead us here—to help these mamas keep their babies. Because the only thing more beautiful than adoption is having no need for it.
God showed up.
Beth showed up.
Tara showed up.
KJ showed up.
Amy and I showed up.
And these women—they show up everyday.
Everybody’s just waiting to see if you will show up.
You guys. Let’s get the women of Heartline Rising—TOGETHER.
READY? HERE’S HOW LOVE WILL WIN:
- DONATE. You can make your tax-deductible donation by clicking here or on the Love Flash Mob button at the bottom of this post. Give what you can—small gifts of $5, $15, or $25 max. We can’t do great things, but today we’re making miracles happen through small gifts given with great love. REMEMBER THAT EVERY DONATION MATTERS. Click here to see the miracles you have made through prior Love Flash Mobs. Because Together Rising is an official 501(c)3, every penny of your donation is tax deductible. And, you can be assured that if the funds raised exceed what Heartine needs for this project, all of your money will go toward serving women and families in crisis.
- SHARE, SHARE, SHARE. PLEASE SHARE THIS POST. Use the links at the bottom of this post to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the other ones I don’t know about. Mass e-mail your friends, call your parents, stand in your yard and read the essay loudly – whatever it takes. We need all the whos in whoville – the tall and the small. We need our entire village today.
- TWEET THIS: Come to @momastery now for the most fun & greatest love you’ll ever see on the web! #LoveFlashMob #TogetherRising http://ctt.ec/P1j_n+
- DEDICATE. Every single one of us knows a warrior woman or baby. If you’d like to donate in honor of someone you love, please leave her name in the comments here or on Facebook.
Okay. It’s time for me to let you go and trust. Your board will be busy trying to breathe and calling each other and refreshing our screens one million times, sacred scared to death. In a few hours, we will give you an update. CMMMMMON LOVE: WIN!!!!
***Of course, Amy and I paid our own way to Haiti. None of your donations to Together Rising were used for this trip or any other trip. As has always been the case, your Board covers Together Rising’s overhead costs so that every penny you give goes to families in need.
!!!!!!!!!!!!! UPDATE !!!!!!!!!!!!!
LISTEN TO ME. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS. YOU ARE NOT NOT NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS.
On our last night in Haiti, Amy and I were eating dinner at Tara’s house and KJ mentioned her friend, Ann — a midwife in Berlin on the front lines every day, helping to serve women and children Syrian refugees. Amy’s eyes got big and she looked over at me and with my eyes I said to her: Sister. No. Focus. We are in HAITI. For Heartline.
Later that night, we lay in our hotel room and before I could fall asleep Amy said into the darkness: We should help them, too. And I said: I know. But not now. Next time. Next Love Flash Mob. We have to do the next right thing, one thing at a time. Heartline is the next right thing, and the numbers we need for these sisters are BIG. They have unsurpassable worth. We have to wait.
Amy said, Yes, you’re right. Then as soon as we got home from Haiti — she reached out to Ann behind my back, of course. Love will sometimes cheat a little to win, it turns out. A week later Amy forwarded this letter to me from Ann:
“Every day Berlin sees an unprecedented number of refugees coming to our city. Many that finally reach Berlin have been in dire conditions for weeks and in Berlin they find another great struggle. The government registration office has waiting times of up to a week just to receive a waiting number. From then it may be weeks to register as an official asylum seeker. Until then, no one is eligible for medical help.
In a once idyllic park you see the dire situation. People are sitting on the cold ground and trying to keep their few things that they have managed to keep together. Pregnant women, small children, sick people, everyone on the cold pavement. Our work as midwives is in great need. The specific needs of pregnant ladies or women that have just given birth are hard to be met under these circumstances, but we try. Women are homeless with their newborn baby or a few days before giving birth, and it is now very cold in Berlin. The situation at the registration office has become more and more unstable over the last few days — because of the cold weather and unrelenting rain — and the fact that people have had to wait for weeks now. Today, it has become very clear, that the idea we really need funds for is winter clothing and gear for the mothers and babies. We see so many without adequate clothing and a huge increase in colds/bronchitis/flu.”
GOOD GOD, I said. Listen, I know it’s calling us. BUT WE HAVE TO WAIT.
********
This afternoon, your Together Rising Board huddled together and said: OUR TRIBE IS TRYING TO TELL US THAT WE DON’T HAVE TO WAIT.
YOU GUYS. YOU GAVE $300,222 IN 10 HOURS.
Because of what you did today, Heartline is getting its Love Wing. I just talked to Tara and she was on the phone with the Haitian contractors saying: IT’S ON! GET READY! YOU HAVE JOBS AND WE WILL HAVE OUR LOVE WING! (Did you think about that? You gave WORK to people today. Ripples, ripples.)
Our Love Flash Mobs are 24 hours long. WE HAVE THIRTEEN AND A HALF HOURS TO GO.
We want to raise money to help Ann and the midwives in Berlin buy warm clothes and blankets for the refugees—and even more. We are, right now, furiously working those details out. You can trust us with that. We will go slow and well and true. We are more careful than CAN BE IMAGINED. Your Board has an entire Stewardship Team with amazing and selfless volunteers and led by our very own Katherine, ensuring that your money is spent in a smart way, in the RIGHT way.
FOR NOW:
KEEP GIVING, friends. No penny will be wasted. Keep giving and we will get to work tomorrow creating the very best plan to get your love to those shivering, hoping, beautiful refugees desperate for a safer, peaceful existence for themselves and their children. When the details of our Love Project are finalized—we will tell you the entire story in detail.
And let us never forget — there is no such thing as other people’s children.
Author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller LOVE WARRIOR — ORDER HERE
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812 Comments
Donating on behalf of the abandoned little baby boy I held last year in October at General Hospital in Port au Prince, Haiti.
For the Little Boy Kerri Held.
Amen.
G
For my precious 3 babies who I held and let go…every moment surrounded in incredible LOVE and SUPPORT, giving me hope:) Every mamma’s heart deserves HOPE.
For Katie’s babies.
Amen.
G
For the three beautiful babies I hold in my heart and the two beautiful boys I hold in my arms.
For Lisa’s Five Babies,
Amen.
G
Donated in memory of my lost grandbaby, and in thanksgiving for my healthy grandson, and new grandbaby on the way. Thank you for what you are doing!
For Missy’s three.
Amen.
G
Donated because after reading all the comments, I realized I couldn’t just pass this post by. I will hold my babies tight and thank the universe that I have them in my arms!
G, if you ask me to make a donation, I’m gonna do it. Every time. God bless!
For my beautiful baby girl Renata. I miss you and look forward to the day I get to hold you in my arms for the first time.
Renata is a beautiful name. For beautiful Renata.
Donated for all of the mothers who have lost their babies. And for all of the babies who have lost their mothers. May this small gift help many.
I gave today in honor of the baby I wasn’t able to hold in my arms, but will be forever in my heart.
I donated because even a 19 year old in college can recognize that women need a safe and loving place to deliver their babies. I’m hoping that these donations make expansion possible in the near future. #LoveWillBuild
Donated for my three and a half year old miracle girl who wanted to go get her piggy bank to “give my moneys to help all a dose babies and mommies, ’cause it’s good to help people, right, Mommy? It’s a good and nice thing to do.” Thank you for giving this momma and her baby the chance to show up to help other mommas and their babies.
For my three who didn’t make it, and my three who did. For all mamas everywhere who should never know fear such as this. xoxo
Thank you Together Rising for doing so much. I made a donation in honor of my beautiful sister and her 3 beautiful babies in heaven.
In honor of my friend’s mom who lost her own son so many years ago and who died before getting to meet her newest grandson.
About two months ago I had a dream about adopting children from Haiti, a boy and a girl. Ever since then I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Now I know why! Thank you for helping me find a way to serve those who so desperately deserve it!
Donating today for feeling so fortunate to have delivered 3 beautiful healthy babies and having no worries compared to these beautiful women in Haiti. I suppose I’m doing a good thing for them by donating, but the “good thing” is what I feel right now inside my heart for being a small part of something so big! I love you Glennon for bringing these opportunities to us!!! <3
Glennon! I love you girl! Thank you for bringing us together for this. I’m reading about this work and it makes me want to get on a plane to Haiti *today* and get down there and start building and feeding and holding babies and whatever else needs to be done. This is such a beautiful work!
I donated in honor of the babies that didn’t live to be born that my best friend carries in her heart today. God love these women. Thank you for bringing this opportunity to me, Glennon.
For Casey’s best friend’s babies.
Amen.
G
For my husband Todd whose life was cut way too short, hoping this LOVE will GIVE life to many women and children and carry on his legacy of always showing up and for being an amazingly loving parent to our three beautiful babies.
For Todd.
Amen.
Sally, I’m so sorry.
G
I donated in memory of my mom who passed a couple months ago. She gave birth to me at 16 and half, was a single mom for a long time and put my brother and I through college. I am so grateful she had quality medical care, love, support and determination. God Bless Heartline…may the blessing they are to the mom’s of Haiti be multiplied. <3
For Laurie’s warrior mom.
Amen.
G
Have followed Tara and her family through their blog for years! Love them and the work they do. Thanks for the opportunity to help.
For the love, woman! Will you get one of those thermometer things on your page so we can see it rising?!? I’m getting myself into a tizzy over here! <3 <3
Agreed!! I am so excited for Heartline I keep checking back <3
Whew! thanks for the FB update! Now I can breathe…
Today is my husband’s 39th birthday.
So in honor of him, I donated $39. I know, I know -that’s more than I was supposed to, but it just made sense, and dangit, that wing needs to get added!
Plus, this can be looked at as $25 from me, and $14 from him. 🙂
Donated on behalf of NICU nurses, who with calm, loving grace took care of my preemie twins before I was able to, and without whom they would not have survived.
Donated in honor of all sweet mamas and babies in Haiti and all over the world. And in honor of all of those who support them. There is a lot of bad in the world these days but Glennon and everyone here at Momastery remind us that there is so much good too and that we just need to “show up” that “love wins” and that “we belong to each other”! This blog has helped me through some very dark times over the past year and I couldn’t wait for the next Love Flash Mob. So excited to participate this year!
Donating in honor of my 3 daughters.
What gifts – you to them & you to us & us to them. Thank you for finding them for us…
– Sarah
For Brandy and her sweet baby, Cameron, who is struggling every day.
For Brandy and Cameron. Amen.
G
Praying that there is a group like this that lifts others up in love and dignity. For our shooting star who we never got to meet, but changed our life for good.
For Kristen’s shooting star. Amen.
G
Thank you for your beautiful blog post. I have to admit that when I first saw it I wanted to scroll by but then decided to read the story. Thank you for helping me to connect with the women there and by doing that you made it unthinkable for me to turn my eyes and heart away.
Donating in honor of God’s blessing to us, and the joy of celebrating her 1 yr birthday yesterday! Thank you for your work!
I just donated in honor of my sister, a well-baby RN and lactation consultant, for her birthday. Love wins!
Done. I thank God all the time that I was born in a place with safe, affordable medical care (and epidurals!) Thank you for helping those that were not.
Dearest G-
Many times I miss your emails, life gets busy, ends up in spam folder, but not this one! God’s will maybe? You see we just found out we have been blessed with our 2nd child. I’m excited and worried as most women would be, I am 39…not young to be going down this road, but that’s ok. It took me way too many years to get here.
During my previous pregnancy I was blessed with exceptional care to make sure we were both healthy and safe…we will have that again through this pregnancy. How could I NOT want that for other women? I donated, it may not be much but I did. I had to, I needed to. May the world continue to be blessed with those that go the extra mile to make it better!
Love Wins!
Thank you for this opportunity to help. I donate in honor of baby Caleb Gene Meyer.
For Caleb Gene Meyer. Amen.
G
Donating to help love win and to feel this amazing connection. ♡
Donated on behalf of Lucy (who I was nursing and crying on as I read this post) and her big sister Madeline. Thank you for providing such a lovely and meaningful way to express the gratitude I have for my life and the ridiculous bunnies who inhabit it 🙂
I have a Lucy too! She is 7 months old 🙂
Donating in honor of my eight year old son. Neither he or I would have lived through his pregnancy and childbirth without medical care. All women and babies deserve access to the same care.
I’m giving because my husband went to Haiti (a rural village) a few years ago as a PA to give medical care. While there, he delivered his first baby and they named it after him. It was a really special experience (but as he described it very scary for the mother because the didn’t know anything about childbirth and was scared). I’m waiting on baby #2 right now and can’t imagine being scared or uninformed about birth. Way to empower these women and save lives. You are truly a blessing to them!!
Donated in memory of Henry and Henry’s mom, Ann.
I give in memory of my sweet one lost despite all the modern medicine available to me and in honor of the sweet baby boy I am carrying now. Praying for all the mommas and babies at Heartline.
Lots of love to you, your angel, and your sweet baby boy <3
Thank you, Lisa. ❤️
For my twin and our mom, and our 6 perfect babies
Donation sent in love.
Donated in honor of my four healthy babies and the two I will meet in heaven someday.
I’m donating to honor my mother, JoAnn, who is a nurse, mother of four, and grandmother to seven. Praying for the mothers of Haiti.. that they may be blessed with good health care, healthy families, and long lives to see their grandchildren play at their feet.
I donated in remembrance of all (and my) babies who we’ve had to say goodbye to and never cuddle, and in honor and enormous gratitude for the medical attention which allowed me and my first baby to survive his early, yet complicated and traumatic birth. And to the amazing midwives who supported me through two more all-natural births with happy endings. Every woman deserves the choice to carry and deliver a child or not. And every mother and child deserves the care necessary for the healthiest, safest pregnancies and birth possible. We cannot control everything about a pregnancy or birth, but providing this care and keeping of our women, their hearts, their bodies?-this we can. I wish I could do more.
Donated in honor of the two babies I’ve born with amazing care by my midwife and OBGYN. Every mama and baby deserves quality care.
I donated because I can. I donated for my sister, Karela, you loves, loves babies. I worked with pregnant and parenting teens in Canada for years and know what a difference kindness, caring and cleanliness for mom’s and babies health goes a long way.
Like so many, I’m donating in gratitude for the excellent maternity care I received that means my children and I are alive today.
God bless Heartline and all they serve.
xx
I’m so glad you cap the amount so that everyone knows they’re giving is as important as the next person. But gosh I read this story and wanted to give all the money I have and another million dollars that I don’t. My heart is breaking with love for these women!!!!!
Thank you Glennon for showing us how to help. I donate for the daughter I lost. and the two that I have.
For Julie’s three daughters.
Amen.
G
Perfect….sisters helping sisters give birth to more sweet brothers and sisters.
Donating in celebration of all the little ones whose lives I’m lucky enough to be part of, and in memory of Charlie and the others who we didn’t get to meet on this side of life.
For Tiffany – who gave birth to her stillborn son 5 years ago. No mother should have to experience such heart wrenching loss.
For Tiffany. Amen.
G
Thank you for this!! Donated in memory of my 3 angels, lost with all the healthcare possible. And in honor of my 13 year old blessing that I get to wake up and show up for each day!!
This is incredible.
Donated in honor of my three beautiful, healthy babies.
Every woman deserves this.
Thank you, G.
Donated in honor of Sarah Randall SSM. She’s the godmother of my beloved daughter, one of my childhood best friends, an Episcolpalian nun AND priest who has served in and dearly loves Haiti.
oh the pictures of babies pregnant and having their own babies. Thank you Heartline for not only providing a safe place for mothers to be and their newborns but for also educating and providing birth control to these young women who have their whole lives ahead.
In honor of my Mother. She fostered 70 children and adopted 1. When she died, many of them came to her funeral and they all still called her Mom.
For Lisa’s mama.
Amen.
now that is an amazing legacy to leave!
Donating because I CAN, and I really do believe that we all belong to each other. Also, because those babies are just so freaking cute!!! Love you Glennon, Thank you for what you are doing.
AMEN – JUST BECAUSE WE CAN.
On this day after my friend of a friend and sister’s Heaven Day anniversary of her 2 girls going home far too early I donate in memory of Anna and Abby. May Love Rock these Moms and babies in need!
For Anna and Abby.
for ainsley kash, whose short life was bigger than anyone could have imagined, yet we all knew would be destined for greatness no matter what.
and for my momma, whose motherhood knows no bounds.
i just love you all so much. i wish i could stay here and comment and read and joy all day long…but i got book learnin’ to tend to, or else my own kids (who are but a dream in our eyes) will probably wind up shiftless and shirtless. not really, but anxiety says lots of crazy things. BIG BIG LOVE!!!
For Ainsley Kash. And for Alisha’s mama.
Amen.
G
I am donating to celebrate my warrior daughter Margaret and my brilliant grandson Sidney, neither of whom would be alive but for instantaneous medical care at the moment of crisis.
For Margaret and Sidney. Amen.
G
I donated because I’m holding my seven-week-old baby in my arms. She was born with a heart defect, and without modern medicine she wouldn’t have lived more than a few days. Instead she came home on day 6. I know what it’s like to wait and wait for a baby, and I cannot imagine what it’s like to lose one.
For Sherry’s baby. Amen.
G
Donated on behalf of my adopted baby’s first momma. Thank you Heartline for everything you do ❤️
For Samantha’s first mama.
Amen.
G
I cried and I donated. I have two sweet children who came into this world safely with medical care–that should be a right, not a privilege. Thank you.
I donated in honor of my little nephew Louis whose heart stopped beating just days before he was due to be born.
We all miss him without ever having had the chance to meet him…
Lots of love to you and Louis and all those who love him <3
Donated and shared!
MUAH!
#LOVEWINS
Having been told that I cannot have children, through the miracle of science, I am a mother and I donated in honor of my two miracle babies, Cole and Farah.
Do we have a goal that we are trying to hit in terms of amount raised? Will there be updates about where we are at? Is there a cap or if we raise beyond a goal will it all go into Heartline?
This organization is so dear to my heart, especially with regard to the family planning aspect. I was and know too many women who have been sexually abused or assaulted. I can’t imagine where I would have ended up if I had become pregnant as a result. Giving these women the power to take back their bodies is wonderful. To some it may seem minimal, but it is so much bigger than that.
I donated because I’m thankful for my two boys who are 13 and 6 and well and healthy to drive me crazy on a daily basis. Thank you for letting me contribute in a small way to big love.
I can so acutely see and feel why you fell in love with this amazing organization and the women who so desperately in need in Haiti, Glennon. I want to get up off of my comfy (sorta) office chair and head there and lend a hand! I am donating in honor of my two sweet boys who have taught me about a love I never knew existed before them. Every mother who so desires should know this love.
Tears, tears and more tears. Wow, thank you for sharing. Donated and inspired, want to learn so much more about the work these wonderful women are doing. Imagine this is the first time I’ve heard of these flash mobs and of your website…I’ll be tuning in from now on. Thanks.
Giving today on behalf of two babies, Glennon and Mandy, in honor of their Grandmothers Ruth and Alice.
Tisha & Bubba
Bubba! You make everyone cry all the damn time! We love it!!!!
🙂 Ha, ‘Kristen in MT’ nailed it…grateful to you and your babies!
I’ve donated because I had a magical (and SO HEALING) home VBAC thanks to the faith, care, trust and expertise of wonderful midwives and my doula. I am forever grateful for this experience.
This cause is super special to my heart.
So I cheated just a little on our LFM rules of one donation.
I’ve also sent in a donation separately on behalf of my daughter, (she held my credit card while I typed the numbers, so really, she paid, right?) – She was blessed to enter the world in the comfort of our bed, happy, alert and healthy thanks to the same wonderful women.
Then I gave the card to my son to hold for a second.
I’ve ALSO been searching for months for the perfect thank you gift from my FAMILY to my Midwives and Doula. I’ve been at a loss, and the act of thanking them has gotten away from me (it’s been 18 months, so ya know.. not THAT long… 😉
SO.
I’ve also separately set up monthly donations to Together Rising in the hopes that the funding collected will also be used toward today’s LFM in their honor. I will be sending them a printout of this post to let them know that the love, care and peace they spread will help touch the lives of women and families around the world.
Thanks for making my mascara run, G.
Christa
Thanks for making my mascara run, Christa! What a beautiful way to honor your midwives and doula. <3
I’m donating in honor of my girlfriend Danylle who is giving birth RIGHT NOW!
<3
I will be giving in honor of Little Children of Jesus orphanage in Haiti where they care for approximately 100 disabled, unwanted children who are simply beautiful. Hoping to see them when I return to Haiti on June 30.
um, I had a bit extra so I made two $25.00 donations…I have 4 healthy daughters & 8 healthy, beautiful grand children…Heartline is doing amazing huge things for our Haitian sisters with great love! thank you
In memory of my wonderful grandma who lost five babies…and then opened her heart to two wonderful babies through adoption and lost one more through an adoption that fell through literally as my dad held his new baby brother in his arms.
Such an incredible way to show love. My daughter was delivered with the help of the wonderful, caring nurse midwives at Vanderbilt. I was grateful for their care then, and even more so now after reading about the conditions these sweet women are facing. It was heartwarming to see that one of the Vandy doctors is helping Heartline! Thank you for letting us be a part of this!
i donated in honor of my son, who is a healthy, thriving toddler thanks to excellent prenatal and perinatal care. But he was sunny side up and stuck on my pelvic bone. If I had had to give birth alone and without help like too many Haitian women, he (and very possibly I) would not be here today. No one deserves to lose their life or the life of their baby if we can help. Brutiful, wonderful work, Glennon and Heartline and team!
Donating in honor of my three beautiful children, and in gratefulness one for the lifesaving care that was available for my first son and I when he arrived prematurely. Together we can do great things. Thank you, Glennon.
I had several complications when my baby boy was born and there is a high probability that neither of us would have survived without access to medical care. I am donating so maybe another mama will have the same chance I did.
Donated in honor of the three children I delivered safely with the medical care every woman deserves.
Today I donate in honor of the birth mother who delivered my son Sam. She had access to modern, convenient healthcare. Every mama should.
I am lovingly making a donation in memory of my beautiful daughter Clementine who was stillborn 18 years ago…xo
Clementine
Hugs to you mama and prayers for your dear Clementine. <3
Just when I thought I couldn’t love you any more, Glennon. This is so near and dear to my heart. We are in the process of adopting a little boy from Haiti whose mom most likely did not have this level of care. This is amazing!
I am donating from Canada, because I had wonderful medical care for all three of my babies, and when I needed medication and a vacuum assist with my first, and medication with my third, I didn’t for a moment even need to think about whether we could afford the care we were receiving. My eldest is 9 today – and we are so lucky.
For Jana.
I made my donation in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness month and in celebration of all the awesome women who are making a difference for women-who-are-awesome-but-don’t-believe-it-yet.
As an adoptive mom, I love what you said, “Because the only thing more beautiful than adoption is having no need for it.” So, I give in honor of the beautiful mamas at the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission who are working hard at recovery to keep their family together.
For Naomi. <3
I donated because I delivered my baby with the help of an incredible midwifery team and in a safe and loving birth center. I want that experience for as many women as possible!
I donated in honor of my sweet daughter Cassie who was born in a nurturing, safe, medically equipped place. All mamas and babies deserve that!!
Dedicated to every momma everywhere that deserves a safe and healthy place to birth her baby. Haiti holds a special place in my heart.
In honor of my three, beautiful, amazing, healthy children.
I’m donating mainly just for love, but also for my adored mother who died before my eyes this July, and because my father has totally abandoned all pretense of loving me since then – I *shall* turn this double bereavement into something good, notwithstanding. My mother’s spirit of love stands strong.
We see you and we love you, Katherine!
You are loved, Katherine
A beautiful way to honor your wonderful mama. We love you, Katherine, and we are here with you! <3
Katherine, I wish I didn’t understand your pain, but I do. You are not alone. We love you!
I love you, Glennon. Thank you for showing up as you are. These women are truly amazing!
Thank you for this opportunity G! Thank you for helping us help the mothers.
Two years ago today I was having an emergency surgery due to a molar pregnancy and miscarriage gone very wrong. I would have bled to death had it not been for the many talented doctors and nurses who cared for me. I cannot think of a better way to honor those amazing people as well as my lost pregnancies than by supporting the mamas in Haiti.
Thank you. Carry on!
Jill
Donating for my two loves, Drew and Audrey. Every woman deserves healthy babies. Can’t wait to see the updates! Thank you for encouraging us to be better humans XOXO
Donated because right now my two babies (who wouldn’t have made it without excellent medical intervention) are off in public school doing hard kindergarten and third grade work while I sit here in my pajamas eating cookies someone else baked that I bought in a store while I read and cry about our sisters in Haiti. Thank you for always introducing me to my sisters, Glennon.