Having a baby and raising a healthy and happy child can be a challenge for even the most privileged of parents. For those less fortunate, the difficulties—financial or otherwise—that accompany parenthood are magnified. Which is why the dedicated team at Baby Buggy has made it their mission to provide poor and vulnerable moms and dads with material goods and educational services they need to raise children.
Founded by local philanthropist Jessica Seinfeld in 2001, Baby Buggy supplies parents-in-need with everything from cribs and car seats to nurse services for first-time mothers and fatherhood education programs for new dads. With help from donors ranging from corporate partners like Johnson & Johnson to numerous individual families, the group has provided over six million items for hundreds of thousands of local families over the last decade.
At the helm of Baby Buggy is Katherine Snider, the executive director and a local mom of two with a distinguished pedigree working for museums and philanthropic foundations. “A parent making minimum wage has to work two hours just to be able to afford a pack of diapers in NYC,” Snider points out. “It’s hard to paint a picture for some people, to describe what’s it like to be one of three families living together in a single apartment in the East Village or a mom who has to put her baby to bed in a drawer because she can’t afford a crib.”
Originally, Snider was inspired to join the fight against poverty after a series of trips to Africa while working for the Rockefeller Foundation. “I kept migrating to these children and taking pictures of them, and really missing my own. As a mother, I felt particularly compelled to do something to help families here at home,” she explains. At Baby Buggy, which she joined in 2008, she oversees both the organization’s fundraising and day-to-day operations. Just don’t call it charity work. “I always bristle when someone calls [Baby Buggy] a charity, because it’s not; we function as a foundation and think of ourselves as a catalyst for change. Our donations help incentivize parents to take steps towards self-sufficiency.”
Helping parents become better parents is a core part of that work. In addition to the essential goods and gear the organization distributes to the city’s disadvantaged population—the most vital of which are diapers, strollers, and pack n’ plays—Baby Buggy offers social service assistance in the form of parenting support and education (such as safe sleep workshops), job training, and more. Through partnerships with 60 community based organizations such as Head Start and the Harlem Children’s Zone, the foundation is able to get the children’s products and family educational services to parents who need them most.
Not surprisingly, Snider finds that her work in aiding underprivileged families often translates to her own parenting philosophy. And her two sons, Tobey and Riley, ages 7 and 8, take their cues from Mom on the value of philanthropy. The boys are regular volunteers at Baby Buggy and have helped to sort and organize diapers and boxes of food for victims of Superstorm Sandy, in addition to clean and package books for families during the holidays.
“I feel very lucky to have this job because I can teach my children about the importance of giving back and also open their eyes to what other children and their families are living through,” Snider says.
Visit babybuggy.org. To read about more local Moms We Love featured this year, click here.
