The Mama Making Podcast

Sarah Crocce | The Village Non-Profit Support for Moms

September 17, 2024 • Jessica Lamb • Season 3 • Episode 78

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In this episode, we chat with Sarah Croce, co-founder of The Village, a nonprofit dedicated to providing practical support to moms with no strings attached. Sarah shares the mission behind The Village, which offers scholarship funds for birthing and doula classes, lactation consultants, and everyday essentials like house cleaning, diapers, wipes, and formula. 

Sarah explains how The Village raises money through fundraisers and community events, and how they directly support birthing women in need with a simple application process. Sarah also highlights their focus on helping women, as well as their commitment to ensuring birth workers can charge the rates they deserve. 

Tune in to learn more about how The Village is making a difference in the lives of moms and birth workers alike.

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Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (00:00.864)
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Mama Making Podcast. If you're new here, I'm your host Jessica. If you're not new, then welcome back. Today I'm very excited to have Sarah Croce here with us. She's with The Village and it is a nonprofit organization focused on providing practical support to moms with no strings attached. I think that's important to mention off the bat. They provide scholarship funds to moms for things like birthing classes, doula classes, lactation consultants.

and even everyday supports like house cleaning, diapers, wipes, formula, you name it. Thanks for being here, Sarah. I'm so excited to chat with you.

Sarah (00:37.42)
Thanks for having me, Jessica.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (00:39.476)
Yeah, so tell me a little bit. Firstly, tell me a little bit about you, who you are, where you're from, whatever you would like to share about yourself.

Sarah (00:47.298)
So like you said, my name is Sarah. I grew up on the East Coast in New Jersey, but I've kind of lived all over the world actually. Now I'm in Los Angeles where I met one of my co -founders. The other one I met before in New York. The three of us started the village back in 2020. My co -founder Amira is a...

attorney in the nonprofit space. So that helped for our origins. And she also is a Pilates instructor like me. That's how we met working at Equinox in New York. And I actually was her birth doula for her first baby. And then my other co -founder, Christy, I met through family and she is a obstetrician gynecologist. And

She did a lot of Pilates with me during her pregnancy as well, both of her pregnancies. And we kind of obviously saw this need in the birth worker space for dignity in birth, in pregnancy, postpartum, in a lot of other developed nations, things like.

doula support and pelvic floor physical therapy and lactation consultation is like built into a pre and postnatal package. And in the U .S. we just severely lack those resources and services. And so we thought even if it's at a small level, let's just do something about it and jump in. So we started the Village back in 2020 right before

kind of the pandemic hit, we were about to launch and then we ended up having to pivot our first ever fundraiser was online. And that's actually what gave us the idea to branch out. We kind of thought we would just serve the Los Angeles community. And we realized that with the status that we have and how we're incorporated and how we're tax exempt, we actually are able to help women all over the country.

Sarah (03:07.508)
And so we're very much a grassroots organization. We raise money through fundraisers and community events and through our Pay It Forward program, which I'll explain. And we take that money and we turn around and we give it right back out to birthing women who identify in need, whether it's any, like you said, everything from diapers to doulas, nothing is off.

table when it comes to applying. You can apply through our website and basically we look at every single application that comes through. We have a conversation with that person and we make a decision from there and we get them a check and we trust that they will use it for what they identified as needing.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (03:53.75)
That's so amazing. I used to work in nonprofit, so it gets me excited to think about all the different ways people come together to make a difference in their niche area or their area of focus. So I'm so excited to hear more about how people, what kind of services people are looking for, how you guys choose people. I'm sure that's very hard to decide who gets it and who doesn't.

Sarah (03:58.23)
Yeah.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (04:24.01)
Yeah, I wanna know everything.

Sarah (04:28.311)
So the application process is really simple. It's actually something that we pride ourselves on. We don't have an income requirement. We ask pretty basic questions. If you were to look at our application, it's basically like, what's your name? What are you looking for? Approximately, how much does it cost? What else should we know about you? Kind of thing. then it

One, a couple of criteria. One is that you have to either be pregnant or your child has to be less than one years old. So that kind of eliminates a lot of the population. Yes, for sure. And we then always have like one screening phone call. And to be honest, Jessica, and I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop and for us to become inundated to the point that we can't even like.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (05:06.06)
narrows it down a bit.

Sarah (05:23.71)
manage the applications. Somehow it has gone pretty smoothly. We get like an application a week and unless like there's extreme circumstances, we almost always say yes. Almost, you know, there's a lot of times that actually someone will apply and then we'll talk with them and they'll be like, actually, this is for me. I can like totally afford a doula more than most, but like I'm going to tell people about this kind of thing. So.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (05:39.798)
That's amazing.

Sarah (05:53.722)
really it comes down to like, it's like a numbers thing and somehow we've figured out how to keep it pretty even. we're not, we're not overwhelmed yet. we've been receiving applications for four years now, so a little less than four years. and we've raised pretty much as much as we've given out. So our numbers are humble. We.

We cap our grants at $1 ,500, which is less than like a postpartum doula would be. So for something like that, we just put a dent into their bill. And then a lot of birth doulas, especially here in Los Angeles and in New York and Chicago, where most of our applications come from like major cities, even a birth doula is much more than $1 But again, we kind of help toward that.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (06:31.126)
Mm

Sarah (06:49.814)
What we love is those kind of smaller asks, like if someone is asking for like three prenatal massages or a six pack of pelvic floor physical therapy or a three time lactation consultation package. Things like that are really easy for us to cover in full. So we enjoy those types of inquiries.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (07:18.56)
Yeah, I'd love to hear more about the different services that you guys have afforded people. Obviously you guys really run the gamut, like you said, from diapers to doulas. I'd love to hear more about some of the giveaways you've done or the sponsorships you've done. If there's been any like off the wall asks that you hadn't really thought about before, or if they've all been pretty standard in terms of postpartum care.

Sarah (07:33.238)
Mm -hmm.

Sarah (07:43.904)
I mean, we've been asked for some things that we've had to kind of say no to or said like, is there something else that you could like, one time we were asked about a car payment and we were like, I can't do that, you know, because it's hard. mean, it's just, we're like, but you know, how's your breastfeeding going? It's hard to, like I said, it is hard to like narrow it down. As we've moved on, like we've kind of added these rules, like.

The less than one year wasn't right away. In the beginning, we helped pay for somebody's delinquent.

Sarah (08:23.232)
utility bills, which is something we wouldn't do anymore. But we were like, that was like one, I think that might've been our first application ever. And we were like, sure, why not? You know, like that's not really what we had in mind. But, and now we would, we would kindly say, sorry, that's not what we do. But mostly I would say our biggest inquiry is for birth doulas and help with midwife costs.

people who want to have, who want to have, give birth outside of the traditional conventional hospital system and maybe they want to either have a home birth or they want to have a birthing center birth. We do a lot of that. Yeah. Also a lot of pelvic floor physical therapy because that's something that's just not really, I actually, I have to say that in the States I'm seeing

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (08:50.741)
Hmm.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (09:03.146)
Yeah, that's awesome.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (09:11.861)
Yes.

Sarah (09:19.67)
we're getting better and better, which is really exciting. Some hospitals and some insurance companies now offer doulas, birth doulas at like a lower cost or free, which is really exciting to see. They're a little more on top of the public floor physical therapy thing, but unfortunately it's just like most things, those who take insurance,

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (09:22.218)
Mm -hmm.

Sarah (09:46.806)
provide, I don't know, I think it's got to catch up, but it's maybe not like the best providers, the ones that are taking the insurance for whatever reason, maybe they're inundated or they can't keep up with the demand. But we do see kind of in real time, how it's maternal health is trying to correct itself in this country. I'll say that.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (09:59.595)
Yeah.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (10:11.488)
Yeah, for sure. So you guys kind of started this whole thing out of seeing a need, a drastic need for support.

Sarah (10:22.85)
You know what, I'm losing your audio all of sudden.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (10:31.5)
Can you hear me? Okay, weird. So I was saying, you guys obviously started out of a place where you were seeing a drastic need in support both during pregnancy and after delivery, or well, during delivery with a doula, but what are kind of the things that you guys are seeing in this social aspect of areas that people need support, but like think it's a...

Sarah (10:31.617)
Now you're back.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (11:00.916)
luxury or don't even know to ask for it. What are some of the like, I guess, social issues you're seeing in terms of lack of access to care?

Sarah (11:11.83)
Yeah, well.

For instance, the maternal mortality rate in the US is appalling. basically, the statistic is something like, compared with 10 other wealthy nations, our mortality rate is literally more than triple. And a lot of that is basically just due to these women

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (11:37.547)
Mm

Sarah (11:45.224)
in labor by themselves or with their partner who doesn't know much either, just kind of being not believed, being disregarded when they're saying, you know, I don't feel good. And a lot of the maternal mortality rate is once women go home and then they end up hemorrhaging or, you know, and it's kind of just one of those things where it's so simple.

that if you were just to have some sort of advocate, whether it be your birth doula who was there and then afterwards comes and checks on you and is like, hey, this isn't typical. You need to be, it's just saying like, you need to be a squeaky wheel. So I am a birth doula. And that's actually a lot of the reason why I started the village is because I'm expensive. I have to charge a lot because it's hard to,

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (12:15.456)
So, it.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (12:29.438)
And that's the flow.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (12:34.239)
Yeah.

Sarah (12:42.538)
have, you know, you're full availability for someone. Birth rules are expensive. And I was always discounting myself for doing like pro bono work, which doesn't make any sense. I'm certainly not in a position to like give away my time. But I thought if I can, you know, rally my community to raise money for these women to have access to just advocacy is really what it comes down to, in my opinion, it's all about.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (12:43.414)
because you know you're a whole thousand things for someone.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (12:53.686)
certainly not necessarily.

and cut it.

Sarah (13:10.772)
advocacy, having a small community of people. I mean, the internet is like a double -edged sword. Like you have, you can feel really isolated at the same time that you feel like, I can like look up anything and see what the answer is. But it's there. The answer is a spectrum, right? And you can, it doesn't really narrow it down if you Google things. So to have a few professionals in your corner and to have a tiny village of other people and women for support.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (13:27.358)
Thanks for watching.

Sarah (13:40.802)
So I think, I know your question was like, what is the, what are you seeing as like the social aspect of it is just that. Like we just need to talk to one another. And if you have one professional in your corner, that's like kind of just saying to you, hey, your feelings, what you're feeling is absolutely, you know, something that you should tell your doctor. Like don't let them, don't let them brush you off.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (13:56.844)
you

Sarah (14:09.658)
Like what you're feeling and what you're experiencing is valid and yeah, like just because that's the thing women especially especially women of color are just not believed they're not listened to

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (14:24.212)
Yeah. And I think what you're saying about having an advocate, just one single person who is not, making a judgment call. They're just saying, Hey, I'm here to advocate for you. This is what I'm seeing. Or I see your, or you're telling me this, this is what I think you should do. Just having someone who is educated in that area and is able to kind of meet you where you're at and help you from that place, I think is.

Sarah (14:26.229)
Thank

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (14:53.834)
like remarkably life changing. If you think about it, going through, obviously everybody knows having being pregnant and having a baby is like life altering. But I did until I had my own kid, I didn't really realize like just how much the everyday you know, it's just so turned upside down. Obviously you have a baby, you're going through a lot of body stuff, but like,

Sarah (14:56.202)
Yeah, yes.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (15:19.158)
there's evidence that your brain literally changes and maybe you're not able to think through a process you typically wouldn't be able to advocate for yourself in this really crazy timeframe or like you're in the middle of birthing a baby. The last thing you want to do is to have to advocate for yourself. So I, I think that having someone who is like kind of a third party, I guess, to, help you navigate this really

Sarah (15:37.89)
Totally.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (15:47.66)
crazy time frame, both beautifully crazy and like challenging crazy. I think everyone should be afforded that, but we're, like you said, we're in a, we're in a country that frankly doesn't prioritize women, to be honest from my own opinion. But I think what's important to mention about what you guys do is obviously you're providing funds to a birthing person who is

Sarah (16:02.912)
Right, right.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (16:15.336)
in need of pelvic floor therapy and can't afford it or wants to have a birth doula but can't spend the money out of pocket on the full bill. But I think not only are you helping these families who are in need of support, you're also helping these birth doulas and all these different types of clinicians do their jobs as well. So it's one more client on their books to be able to continue to...

feed this need of supporting people in this really crucial timeframe.

Sarah (16:49.536)
Yes, and I'm really glad you brought that up because that is another really important aspect of what we do is that we found, much like me, much like my friend Amira, co -founder Amira, who's a Pilates instructor, we were always discounting our services to people. And we thought it would be better to put a dent into the bill so that these birth workers who are primarily women aren't discounting their services. They're able to ask for

the rate that they deserve because we're there to pad the bill. And so that's something we're really passionate about. And I'll tell you, I'd love to say that we get applications from the podcasts that we do and the marketing that we do on social media, but pretty much 100 % of our applications come from...

birthing people who have talked to a doula who says, you can't afford my rate, well, I know this organization. So it really is this community of birth workers that we have connected with that refer people to us. So it's really kind of a nice full circle moment to see, that's coming from this midwife and that's coming from this doula and that's coming from this pelvic floor clinic that we know about and.

That's where the inspiration for our Pay It Forward program came and that is that we have birth workers all over the country who have pledged to be a partner with us and so what they do is they raise money on our behalf.

It's pretty passive. Basically, they either have it on their website or they have it at their point of sale wherever their brick and mortar business is. And we just give them a little plaque that says, we're a Proud Pay It Forward partner. anyone who goes to check out or goes to their website can click on it or scan the QR code. they have a unique fundraising page. And someone can say, hey, I just got this amazing

Sarah (18:56.61)
service of postnatal massage and I'd like to pay it forward to someone so they donate $100 and then that can go towards someone else having the same service in the future. So that's a small way that we raise money. But we love that just because it feels like that village that we're creating.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (19:18.986)
Yeah. And you guys are creating a village, obviously for the people that you're serving, but for the, the birth workers you're connecting with as well. That's really incredible to kind of do both sides of it.

Sarah (19:21.559)
Thank

Sarah (19:25.376)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's really, really special.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (19:33.728)
So tell me more about how you guys do fundraising. You said some of it comes from the Pay It Forward program. Where else do you guys generate funds for this?

Sarah (19:43.404)
So actually we have only one big fundraiser a year and it is our, it's called Miles for Mamas and it's a either, you can either walk or run. It's like a 5k or a one mile walk and it started off that we only had one in Santa Monica. It's starting to build that there's a few now in the country.

My mom and my aunt actually hold one on the East Coast where I'm from in New Jersey. And it's always at the end of September. This year we're coming up on our fourth annual in Santa Monica in California. And my mom and my aunt are coming up on their second annual in a town called Merchantville in New Jersey. And every year we have a goal to raise a little bit more.

Last year, we were really excited. We definitely hit our biggest raise ever of $15 ,000. And if you like, yeah, and if you do a little bit of quick math, that's only if everyone were to get the 1500 cap, that's only 10 grants. But it's kind of our motto that we're helping one mama at a time. So it's one of those things where, and we've been able to obviously have other little fundraisers. So our big thing now is

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (20:42.196)
Wow, that's amazing.

Sarah (21:04.738)
our Pay It Forward partners and anyone in the community can just decide to hold a little fundraiser for us. In fact, my aunt just had a really cute little fundraiser for us. She has a lot of land and she held a, she called it Grooving for Good and she hired some local musicians to play a little concert in her backyard and she charged at the door.

and all the proceeds went to the village. So this is what we want to see more and more of, Jessica, PSA. People saying like, hey, like, you know, I'll tell you the truth. If you're thinking about starting a nonprofit, think hard because it's a lot of work. And, you know, full disclosure, we don't pay ourselves. This is just like what we call our labor of love. But that's why we kind of we at first were doing for

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (21:39.03)
Yeah

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (21:49.025)
Yes.

Sarah (22:00.578)
fundraisers a year, but it was just so much. Both of my co -founders have young children. One's a doctor, one's a lawyer. So they are so busy. And this was my idea. So a lot of this falls on me and that's fine. I welcome it. Like I tried, I wanted them.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (22:17.388)
Birthwork is too busy though, so I wouldn't discount yourself. Birthwork is busy.

Sarah (22:19.554)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But so we kind of narrowed it down to, like, we're going to do our best. We're going to do one fundraiser a year. And then honestly, it kind of happened without us thinking about it. Someone said, can I throw a fundraiser for you? And we were like, why yes. Yes, you can. And then that just started happening more and more. And so we want that to catch on for sure, especially starting in a week when I'm going to nursing school in a week.

I'm working my way to becoming a nurse midwife. So I'm about to get lot busier than I already am. So, yeah.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (22:50.006)
That's so exciting!

Okay.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (22:57.79)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think you guys have built like a really cool village, like I said, on both sides of the aisle, if you will, that I imagine that kind of building these two areas where you're serving families, but also serving birth workers as well, I imagine it'll all come together. Yeah.

Sarah (23:05.6)
Yeah.

Sarah (23:14.336)
Yeah, yeah.

I think so, you know, we're only just begun. We're only four years in. Like we have big plans for this organization that spans decades. So.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (23:21.632)
Yes.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (23:27.274)
Yeah, so I was just going to ask outside of fundraising, what else is coming up for you guys? What do you have planned?

Sarah (23:38.252)
You mean like in

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (23:38.644)
I guess a better question is where do you see the village in the next few years? How do you want to expand? What do you want it to look like? All of that.

Sarah (23:47.458)
Well, honestly, we're like I was just saying to my husband that next year is going to be the fifth annual and I want to like go all out. This year, the Miles for Mama's fourth annual in Santa Monica is almost like running itself, which is like so amazing because I've worked really hard. But all the sponsors are coming back this year. No questions asked. You know, we already have a ton of sign ups. Could always have more.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (24:05.759)
That's awesome.

Sarah (24:16.598)
But we, you know, it feels pretty easy this year, which is again important because I've been preparing to basically start over in my life, which is a lot. And then this year, honestly, we'll just kind of be like, hold the status quo for a little while longer. And then I think once I've got one year of school under my belt and I'm almost done with earning my RN.

I think then I'll be able to have a little bit more of like, the future will clear up a little bit for me and I'll like have a little bit more time and space to think about growth. So to be honest, right now it's just like kind of holding on to what we're doing. Yeah.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (24:56.042)
Yeah.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (25:00.596)
Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like that's such a big part of growth that like realizing where you're at when you're there and kind of letting things operate how they have to before you can kind of jump into something bigger, I think is

Sarah (25:06.753)
Yeah.

Sarah (25:12.734)
Yeah, my co -founder, my co -founder Amir is really good about being like, we're doing enough. you, you know, like give yourself some grace, cut yourself some slack. Cause it is one of those things. Like it's the job that keeps on jobbing. Like it's, and I have, you know, as a birth worker and a Pilates instructor and a prenatal yoga teacher, I have like all the, I wear like all these hats.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (25:19.349)
Nice.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (25:30.772)
Yeah.

Sarah (25:38.914)
I have like 20 jobs at all times, you know, and and this is the job that's like the job I don't get paid for but the one I love the most and the one I care about the most, you know, so it's always hanging over my head at the end of the day, I could always be doing more for the village. And so I'm

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (25:39.936)
Yep. Yep.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (25:47.584)
Yeah.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (25:52.734)
Yeah, but I think if you're helping one mom or two moms, you're meeting your mission either way.

Sarah (25:57.078)
Yeah, right, exactly, exactly. And we're doing so much more than that, so we're excited, yeah.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (26:03.348)
Yeah. Well, I would love for you to share how people who are listening can support the Village monetarily, but then also on social media and in the fundraising events you have. I'd love to hear more about what listeners can do to support.

Sarah (26:19.04)
Yeah, so if you wanted to get to know us a little bit better, you could head over to our website. It's thevillageformamas .org. Thevillage .org was taken. Shock. And there you can read about us, our co -founders. You can read a little bit more in depth about our mission. You can check out our application.

just to like, you know, even if you're not someone who's necessarily in need, just to check it out and see how simple it is. It's really just a Google form and just save that link for anyone that you might ever meet that you feel like, hey, I've heard about this organization on a podcast and I feel like it could be just for you because that would be great if even one mama was helped out by this chat we're having today, Jessica. And then our Instagram handle, we're definitely most active on Instagram.

and we're the Village for Mamas on Insta as well. And you can click our link tree and that has the signups if you happen to be in California or if you happen to be in New Jersey or if you're like, hey, I could start a little fundraiser in my own town. We've had one of my friends did a little walk with like seven of her friends in Amsterdam. So we've had someone do it in...

New York, we had someone do it in Chicago. So we have them all over these little tiny, you can just sign up virtually for the race. And so that's one way to get involved. Just like, you you sign up, the sign up is like $40 and then you can ask people to sponsor your walk. And so like people have raised tons of money for us just by saying, Hey, I'm walking the walk for moms in need on September 22. Would you donate, you know, $10 to my walk? And then like,

that really can get really big. Like we've had people raise $1 ,000 just for their own walks. So that's really cool. If you wanted to just make a one -time tax deductible donation, you could check out our website. We have a donate button on every page. And if you are a birth worker and you wanted to learn more, click on that Pay It Forward tab on our website and get in touch with me and we can.

Sarah (28:35.978)
send you a little plaque and send you a badge for your website and it gets you on our list of partners and the cool thing about that is that people come and they see our list of partners and they're like, I need a whatever it is that you do, you know, and then can go from there. So it becomes a full circle network village, a village.

Jessica | The Mama Making Podcast (28:56.66)
Yeah. Yes. I was going to say like a little community within your community. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on. I've loved learning more about the village and look forward to helping support you guys as you go through your year. problem. I will talk to you soon.

Sarah (29:01.42)
Totally, totally.

Sarah (29:07.798)
Yeah!

Sarah (29:12.844)
Thank you so much, Jessica. Thanks for having me.

All right, great. Thank you.