Spring 2025 marked a one-year anniversary with a very special volunteer that we’d love to highlight.

Remember when we were nervous about our NB Essentials Kit creator extraordinaire having to step away from volunteering? You can read more about Hayley and what it means to be 100% volunteer run HERE.  Well, we knew that when space opens up, it gives the opportunity for the community to fill it and we are very lucky that this space brought us Marisha Pelnar!

Marisha quickly learned the ropes of building support kits for our clients. Volunteering almost every Thursday first in Nikola’s garage and then helping to make the transition to the basement in First United Methodist Church Windsor.

She is a vital member of our team ensuring every support box we send out is packed as a precious gift. Marisha advocates for the need she sees in our community and shows up with love in action.

Recently Marisha organized a local group of moms to raise the needed products for eight Postpartum Recovery Kits for Period Poverty Awareness. Together they stuffed the bags with everything you need to recover from birth with dignity and care along with handwritten notes of encouragement. This is community care!

What is most meaningful though are Marisha’s own words about volunteering with Stork Support.

What inspired you to volunteer for Stork Support?

I had been searching (unsuccessfully) to find community. I saw a need I knew I could help fill that aligned with my community building value.

What Stork Support service offering is the most meaningful to you and why?

Newborn essentials and postpartum kits. Personally, postpartum and newborn phases for me were unexpectedly harder than ever imagined. It takes a village so they say… but no one tells you where to find that support. If I can help ease that phase for even one new mama, then I feel I’ve made an impact.

Do you have a favorite moment from volunteering this year?

The Donation Saturday in February when my son, Jack, kept asking why there were so many people helping in his little 2-year-old voice. My heart was full from the turn out and that he noticed.

Why is it important to you to volunteer?

The act of being neighborly feels like it’s fading away and I want to show my children what community involvement looks like. I’ve read one of the best ways to instill values in your children is to lead by example – so I bring them to help “the mamas” and we talk about being a helper.