MOMS Club of Woodbury

Photo: Lauren Carpenter

Attending a MOMS Club meeting to fill Ronald McDonald House breakfast bags are Caroline and Dawn Beavers, Erin and Lauren Callahan, Jen and Noelle Anderson, and Kellie and Carson Shaffer.

Moms offering moms support is the mission of MOMS Clubs. The Woodbury MOMS Club chapter began in 1998 and consists of two groups, MOMS Club-North and MOMS Club-South for women living either north or south of Valley Creek Road. Both offer daily social opportunities for participating moms. But there is also a strong service component supported by women devoted to serving the Woodbury community and beyond.

“Many women join to meet other moms and share motherhood experiences,” says MOMS Club-North member, Dora Kripapuri. “But we also want to give back and teach our children about giving back.” Women of Woodbury MOMS Club find that teaching children about community service often means coordinating projects in which kids can readily help and see benefits.

One such project was assembling breakfast bags for families staying at the Minneapolis Ronald McDonald House. Children of MOMS Club members drew pictures, added stickers or wrote messages on the outside of paper lunch bags. Fifty decorated bags were then filled with granola bars, fruit and bottled juice, then delivered to the Ronald McDonald house. The project allowed families on their way to visit hospitalized children to quickly grab some free food on the go.

MOMS Club-South adopted a park where kids can help with planting and cleanup. MOMS Club-North organizes holiday parties for seniors at Oak Meadows Senior Center. At Halloween, the children dressed in costumes and their moms provided candy for seniors to distribute to the children as they paraded through the center. A similar party for Valentine’s Day involved kids and seniors decorating cookies and making crafts together.

President of MOMS Club-North, Dawn Beavers says, “It’s special to see our kids interact with seniors. They’re learning that there are people in the world who need us and that it’s fun to bless others.”

These charitable minded women in both groups have involved their children in such projects as collecting school supplies and winter coats to donate to the Woodbury Christian Closet, taking stacks of out-of-use baby blankets to the Woodbury Animal Humane Society for potty training pets, providing seasonal clothing to the Tubman-Hill Home for women seeking shelter from domestic violence, collecting shoes for Soles4Souls and toys for children hospitalized at Gillette and St. Paul Children’s Hospitals.

MOMS Club member Peg Benson recalls last year’s winter coat drive. “My home was the designated collection spot and my sons (ages six  and four-year-old twins) were amazed by the huge pile of coats. They couldn’t believe how many people might not have enough money to purchase a coat. It was compelling. A big deal to them.”

Not all MOMS Club service projects involve the kiddos. Some moms also prepared and served a Mother’s Day brunch and a soup supper for residents of the Tubman-Hill Home. “In the great Minnesota tradition,” Beavers says, “we served over 15 hotdish casseroles!”

Another time, over 25 moms came together to sponsor a taco night at the Ronald McDonald House. “We decorated the dining area,” Beavers says, “and provided enough tacos, desserts and beverages to serve over 80 people. But it wasn’t all work,” she adds. “We visited and exchanged recipes afterward. It was a great mom’s night out.”

Past president of MOMS Club-South, Angela Vokac, moved to Woodbury three years ago. A neighbor told her about MOMS Club where she’s since made some of her best friends. “MOMS Club is a great resource for new residents,” Vokac says. “I’ve met great people who take care of each other and the community. We’re women who want to be good examples to our children, showing them that helping people is fun and doing it together is even more fun.”

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For more information, check out MOMS Club of Woodbury's website.

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