Aunt Mary's House hosts Hopeful Hearts, a Brunch for Change
Aunt Mary's House President Jen Westervelt and Executive Director Brenda White welcome all to their first annual brunch for change fund raiser called ‘Hopeful Hearts’, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., May 11, in the Miles of Love barn located at 963 County Route 8, in McDonough. (Photo by Kelli Miller)
MCDONOUGH — Aunt Mary’s House, a house for mothers in crisis, will be opening this year in the fall and has been helping mothers and their babies while awaiting a complete renovation.
“We’re having our first annual Brunch for Change fund raiser called ‘Hopeful Hearts’, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., May 11, in the Miles of Love barn located at 963 County Route 8, in McDonough,” said Aunt Mary’s House Executive Director Brenda White.
“We will have a silent auction with over 50 items donated from local restaurants, community members, and businesses that include massages, tickets to the Animal Adventure Park, gift cards, one night stay in the bridal suite at the Sherwood Hotel, two night stay at our local bed and breakfast, The Splendor Inn, and a one night stay at local Air BNB, Cottage on the Lake,” said White.
She said they will also have basket raffles, games for the entire family, and will be displaying bedroom design ideas created by Norwich High School Civil Engineering and Architecture students’.
“Live Event NY will be there with entertainment, we’ll have a bounce house, racing simulator, and activities inside for the moms,” she added.
White said, “Our goal is to raise up to $15,000 to be used to furnish Aunt Mary’s House to make sure the home is warm and inviting for the women we will be serving once open in the Fall.”
She said brunch will be catered by Nina’s and will consist of scrambled eggs, waffles, sausage, bacon, sandwiches, cannolis and cheesecake. The Cottage Bakery is donating desserts, Chobani will donate yogurt and Moi’s Center City Bistro will be donating drinks.
White explained a local non-profit in the area donated 30 tickets for children up to age 12 will be free with a purchase of an adult ticket. Max of two adult tickets per family. This way, moms, dads, and kids can afford it and have resources they need.
White said, “Ten tickets have been purchased by community members and local businesses, and donated back that we can use for women that may not be able to afford to bring their entire family.”
She said tickets are $30 and seating is limited to 100 guest. To reserve tickets, call 607-316-7486 or email executivedirector@auntmaryshouse.net.
Countryside Fabers Home and Kitchens is donating the use of their large Adirondack chair for photo opportunities.
Aunt Mary’s House President Jen Westervelt said, “One of the things we’re going to do to garner interest in the event, is to get ideas for the designs of the bedrooms at Aunt Mary’s House, making it a design event as well.”
“Whether they are professional designers or students, they can send us what they think will be nice as far as layout, decor, colors, and how they would set up the bedrooms for the moms and child,” said Westervelt.
Westervelt said the design plans can be emailed to email executivedirector@auntmaryshouse.net. The ideas can be accepted in both written or drawn formats.
“We have the average size of the bedrooms and everyone and anyone is welcome to submit design plans for the rooms and then at the Hopeful Hearts brunch we will display with all of the different designs we’ve received and those in attendance will be able to give feedback on those designs,” she said. “For anyone giving feedback, their name will be put into a drawing to win a generous gift donated by Seasons General Store.”
Westervelt said, “The event will be its a great opportunity to come learn about Aunt Mary’s House so even if people aren’t familiar with us, we’ll have material there to learn more.”
White said, “Come have a great brunch, have some fun, get some wonderful items and then go home.”
Westervelt said, “When we started Improve Norwich Now (INN) , in 2019, we knew that one of the main areas in need of improvement in our community was related to caring for those who were living with unstable housing, homelessness, and just that crisis state of mind of being.”
She said they didn’t know exactly what a solution would look like at that time but over the course of development of the organization, it became clear that it would be helpful to focus on a particular demographic to try to start the work.
“The demographic that seemed to really draw the most passion and potential for success would be mothers and their children,” she added.
“So, we started investigating options for ways we could start a home that would be able to welcome pregnant and parenting mothers who needed a place to live and learn how to parent their children, if they so choose,” Westervelt said. “Adoption is also an option.”
She said they will support the mother, what ever her decision is, but from the INN lens, they knew this needed to be its own focus. INN, of which Westervelt is a cofounder and the President, needed created Aunt Mary’s House to focus on aiding mothers.
“We’ve begun operating the parent founding organization of Aunt Mary’s House and this is our first step in community improvement in the direction,” she said. “Addressing that crisis housing situation, focusing on the mothers and their children, and helping to give them better lives.”
Westervelt said, “Aunt Mary’s House is in it’s second year and we have our first employee, formed a board comprised of fantastic individuals who have a heart for this community and for our mission and through generous seed money from an anonymous source, we have been able to start up the endeavor of Aunt Mary’s House.”
“We’re not open yet, the home is in its renovation stage. We purchased a home that was vacant for over seven years in our community and this is a project that is in need of a complete renovation,” she added. “We have contractors working on it right now and small teams of volunteers. The goal is to open around November, December, this year.”
She said, “While we aren’t able to extend the housing option yet, we can and offer other support.”
White said, “Aunt Mary’s House is a safe haven for building stronger futures. The home will be for women pregnant or parenting, ages 18 and up that are in a crisis situation. They may be homeless, abused, kicked out of their home and living in their car, etc.”
“We want to be able to give them a hand up and take them out of that crisis situation and put them in a safe, stable home and give them and teach them the resources for becoming independent and self sufficient,” she said.
“If we take away the food and housing insecurity, they can focus on learning all of the other things; such as how to be a parent, how to do laundry, how to cook and clean, and more,” said White.
She added, “We will work with several local resources such as: YMCA for mommy and me swimming classes, or if mom just needs to work out, they have the baby care, The Place, for parenting classes, and Cornell Cooperative for cooking and shopping classes.”
“Our work will also include making sure these young women have access to the Department of Social Services, Snap, and education,” she said. “We want them to have all of the resources they didn’t have before they arrived, so they know they can have a better future for themselves and their child.”
White said their mission is to end the cycle of poverty, abuse, homelessness, and even lack of education.
Although the home isn’t open yet, White said she has helped twelve women of which, ten would have qualified for the home, one was too young, and one had three children over 18 months old.
Donations from community members, organizations and a small garage sale at CVFREE last summer gave us many items such as diapers, car seats, food, blankets, etc. Anything we could give to those that were in need, we did and provided the essentials.
White said when reviewing the upcoming applications and admission forms, the committee will review the criteria to consist of women aged 18 or older in a crisis situation, pregnant or parenting a child up to 18 months, and they cannot have alcohol or drugs: they cannot be an active user.
Westervelt said they’ll be able to offer free board to four moms and their babies. The house is a four bedroom which allows each young woman to have their own bedroom, with a bed, crib, and dresser and they will share the rest of the house, which consists of a living room, dining room. kitchen, small library, and three full bathrooms.
“We’ll have security cameras inside and outside of the home so we can see where they are and the cameras will be linked into the Police Department and Fire Department,” she said. “One of us will be on call when we’re not there and we have a list of local resources in the area that consists of doctors, nurses, pastors, social workers; that are willing to also be on call if there is something we can’t help the young ladies with.”
White added, “A sunroom is on the side which makes it convenient for visitors and the home is going to be their residence. It’s their safe zone and no one will go into the home without a background check and only when staff are present will visitors be allowed.”
“We do have paperwork of expectations for living in the home and if the rules are broken, we’ll have to review and have a conversation and possibly give a warning or be asked to remove themselves from the home,” said Westervelt. “We must be aware of the safety of all of the moms and babies in the home.”
“Our main goal is to bring them into the community, keeping them safe, and develop them into the community, so they can feel cared for and remain safe,” she said.
Westervelt said she is a Pastor in the community and wants to clarify that Aunt Mary’s House is not a religious organization, that will be an option for the residents and if they would like to get plugged in with a local church, they will help them, but it will not be forced on anyone, it’s the women’s choice.
“We’ve had phenomenal support from the churches we’ve worked with. They’ve provided baby bottles, monthly donations, and just wanted to volunteer to help the women,” she said. “We call everybody ‘Friends of Aunt Mary’s House’.”
More information on Aunt Mary's House can be found at AuntMarysHouse.net or on the Aunt Mary's House Facebook page.
“We’re having our first annual Brunch for Change fund raiser called ‘Hopeful Hearts’, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., May 11, in the Miles of Love barn located at 963 County Route 8, in McDonough,” said Aunt Mary’s House Executive Director Brenda White.
“We will have a silent auction with over 50 items donated from local restaurants, community members, and businesses that include massages, tickets to the Animal Adventure Park, gift cards, one night stay in the bridal suite at the Sherwood Hotel, two night stay at our local bed and breakfast, The Splendor Inn, and a one night stay at local Air BNB, Cottage on the Lake,” said White.
She said they will also have basket raffles, games for the entire family, and will be displaying bedroom design ideas created by Norwich High School Civil Engineering and Architecture students’.
“Live Event NY will be there with entertainment, we’ll have a bounce house, racing simulator, and activities inside for the moms,” she added.
White said, “Our goal is to raise up to $15,000 to be used to furnish Aunt Mary’s House to make sure the home is warm and inviting for the women we will be serving once open in the Fall.”
She said brunch will be catered by Nina’s and will consist of scrambled eggs, waffles, sausage, bacon, sandwiches, cannolis and cheesecake. The Cottage Bakery is donating desserts, Chobani will donate yogurt and Moi’s Center City Bistro will be donating drinks.
White explained a local non-profit in the area donated 30 tickets for children up to age 12 will be free with a purchase of an adult ticket. Max of two adult tickets per family. This way, moms, dads, and kids can afford it and have resources they need.
White said, “Ten tickets have been purchased by community members and local businesses, and donated back that we can use for women that may not be able to afford to bring their entire family.”
She said tickets are $30 and seating is limited to 100 guest. To reserve tickets, call 607-316-7486 or email executivedirector@auntmaryshouse.net.
Countryside Fabers Home and Kitchens is donating the use of their large Adirondack chair for photo opportunities.
Aunt Mary’s House President Jen Westervelt said, “One of the things we’re going to do to garner interest in the event, is to get ideas for the designs of the bedrooms at Aunt Mary’s House, making it a design event as well.”
“Whether they are professional designers or students, they can send us what they think will be nice as far as layout, decor, colors, and how they would set up the bedrooms for the moms and child,” said Westervelt.
Westervelt said the design plans can be emailed to email executivedirector@auntmaryshouse.net. The ideas can be accepted in both written or drawn formats.
“We have the average size of the bedrooms and everyone and anyone is welcome to submit design plans for the rooms and then at the Hopeful Hearts brunch we will display with all of the different designs we’ve received and those in attendance will be able to give feedback on those designs,” she said. “For anyone giving feedback, their name will be put into a drawing to win a generous gift donated by Seasons General Store.”
Westervelt said, “The event will be its a great opportunity to come learn about Aunt Mary’s House so even if people aren’t familiar with us, we’ll have material there to learn more.”
White said, “Come have a great brunch, have some fun, get some wonderful items and then go home.”
Westervelt said, “When we started Improve Norwich Now (INN) , in 2019, we knew that one of the main areas in need of improvement in our community was related to caring for those who were living with unstable housing, homelessness, and just that crisis state of mind of being.”
She said they didn’t know exactly what a solution would look like at that time but over the course of development of the organization, it became clear that it would be helpful to focus on a particular demographic to try to start the work.
“The demographic that seemed to really draw the most passion and potential for success would be mothers and their children,” she added.
“So, we started investigating options for ways we could start a home that would be able to welcome pregnant and parenting mothers who needed a place to live and learn how to parent their children, if they so choose,” Westervelt said. “Adoption is also an option.”
She said they will support the mother, what ever her decision is, but from the INN lens, they knew this needed to be its own focus. INN, of which Westervelt is a cofounder and the President, needed created Aunt Mary’s House to focus on aiding mothers.
“We’ve begun operating the parent founding organization of Aunt Mary’s House and this is our first step in community improvement in the direction,” she said. “Addressing that crisis housing situation, focusing on the mothers and their children, and helping to give them better lives.”
Westervelt said, “Aunt Mary’s House is in it’s second year and we have our first employee, formed a board comprised of fantastic individuals who have a heart for this community and for our mission and through generous seed money from an anonymous source, we have been able to start up the endeavor of Aunt Mary’s House.”
“We’re not open yet, the home is in its renovation stage. We purchased a home that was vacant for over seven years in our community and this is a project that is in need of a complete renovation,” she added. “We have contractors working on it right now and small teams of volunteers. The goal is to open around November, December, this year.”
She said, “While we aren’t able to extend the housing option yet, we can and offer other support.”
White said, “Aunt Mary’s House is a safe haven for building stronger futures. The home will be for women pregnant or parenting, ages 18 and up that are in a crisis situation. They may be homeless, abused, kicked out of their home and living in their car, etc.”
“We want to be able to give them a hand up and take them out of that crisis situation and put them in a safe, stable home and give them and teach them the resources for becoming independent and self sufficient,” she said.
“If we take away the food and housing insecurity, they can focus on learning all of the other things; such as how to be a parent, how to do laundry, how to cook and clean, and more,” said White.
She added, “We will work with several local resources such as: YMCA for mommy and me swimming classes, or if mom just needs to work out, they have the baby care, The Place, for parenting classes, and Cornell Cooperative for cooking and shopping classes.”
“Our work will also include making sure these young women have access to the Department of Social Services, Snap, and education,” she said. “We want them to have all of the resources they didn’t have before they arrived, so they know they can have a better future for themselves and their child.”
White said their mission is to end the cycle of poverty, abuse, homelessness, and even lack of education.
Although the home isn’t open yet, White said she has helped twelve women of which, ten would have qualified for the home, one was too young, and one had three children over 18 months old.
Donations from community members, organizations and a small garage sale at CVFREE last summer gave us many items such as diapers, car seats, food, blankets, etc. Anything we could give to those that were in need, we did and provided the essentials.
White said when reviewing the upcoming applications and admission forms, the committee will review the criteria to consist of women aged 18 or older in a crisis situation, pregnant or parenting a child up to 18 months, and they cannot have alcohol or drugs: they cannot be an active user.
Westervelt said they’ll be able to offer free board to four moms and their babies. The house is a four bedroom which allows each young woman to have their own bedroom, with a bed, crib, and dresser and they will share the rest of the house, which consists of a living room, dining room. kitchen, small library, and three full bathrooms.
“We’ll have security cameras inside and outside of the home so we can see where they are and the cameras will be linked into the Police Department and Fire Department,” she said. “One of us will be on call when we’re not there and we have a list of local resources in the area that consists of doctors, nurses, pastors, social workers; that are willing to also be on call if there is something we can’t help the young ladies with.”
White added, “A sunroom is on the side which makes it convenient for visitors and the home is going to be their residence. It’s their safe zone and no one will go into the home without a background check and only when staff are present will visitors be allowed.”
“We do have paperwork of expectations for living in the home and if the rules are broken, we’ll have to review and have a conversation and possibly give a warning or be asked to remove themselves from the home,” said Westervelt. “We must be aware of the safety of all of the moms and babies in the home.”
“Our main goal is to bring them into the community, keeping them safe, and develop them into the community, so they can feel cared for and remain safe,” she said.
Westervelt said she is a Pastor in the community and wants to clarify that Aunt Mary’s House is not a religious organization, that will be an option for the residents and if they would like to get plugged in with a local church, they will help them, but it will not be forced on anyone, it’s the women’s choice.
“We’ve had phenomenal support from the churches we’ve worked with. They’ve provided baby bottles, monthly donations, and just wanted to volunteer to help the women,” she said. “We call everybody ‘Friends of Aunt Mary’s House’.”
More information on Aunt Mary's House can be found at AuntMarysHouse.net or on the Aunt Mary's House Facebook page.
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