FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- How do you hold a baby shower for 125 new mothers in the Fort Leonard Wood community?
The answer: with lots of help from the United Service Organizations and Operation Homefront.
The USO, in conjunction with Operation Homefront's Missouri/Southern Illinois chapter, hosted its first Bundles and Boots Baby Shower Saturday for pregnant and new mothers in the military community.
"We have anyone from Army, Navy, Air Force (and) Marines participating," said Kelly Brownsfield, Fort Leonard Wood USO manager. "Most of them are active duty, we have some Reservists, and some of them are the spouses of active duty."
The goal of the event was to "shower" these women with free baby-related items, donated to Operation Homefront, and provide them a chance to mingle with other expecting mothers. The USO was transformed for the event into a pink- and blue-festooned bazaar, filled with vendors handing out the goodies, information booths, cakes and balloons.
"It's just meant to be a day of fun. It's our way of honoring them because they do (make) many sacrifices. It's our way of saying 'thank you,'" Brownsfield said.
Each registered guest received a car seat, several packages of diapers, books, baby clips, bibs and blankets, to name a few items. Just Between Friends also donated lightly used baby clothing that the new moms could help themselves to.
Throughout the event, 65 door prizes were given away, including baby food blenders, bedding and a refrigerator.
"We want to thank you for the sacrifices you and your Families make every day. These gifts are a way of saying 'thank you,'" said Jon Jerome, Operation Homefront Missouri/Southern Illinois chapter president. Jerome arrived at the USO after conducting another baby shower at Whiteman Air Force Base in Kansas City that morning.
When they weren't picking up their goodies, moms could munch on food from the USO kitchen, or stop by the "quirky food" table, featuring items like honey, peanut butter, pickles and ice cream -- "for any cravings that may occur during the event," Brownsfield said.
They could also check out parenting informational booths, provided by Army Community Service, Child, Youth and School Services, and Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation.
"They're all bringing information related to parenting newborns (and) any classes they may provide free of charge … for the Families to kind of see what is out there," Brownsfield said.
Most importantly, new military moms had the chance to get to know others like them in the community.
"Some of these women have just moved to the area, some of them have been here a while, so we're hoping that (this) will give them good time to connect, maybe get to know one another (and) after that, maybe form a relationship," Brownsfield said.
Pregnant moms could have their car seat installed during the event by certified installers as well.
"Some might have deployed spouses, so they're doing this by themselves, so this is our way of trying to help out, even if it's a little bit," Brownsfield said.
One such spouse was Amanda Avant, whose husband is deployed to Afghanistan.
"I just want to say 'thank you' to the USO for doing this for the pregnant women," said Avant, who is currently six months pregnant. "I think it's great for meeting other pregnant moms in the military."
Avant appreciated the support, the free items, and also the help in getting it all to her car. Several elders from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints volunteered to carry car seats out to vehicles.
"I don't know anybody here besides my husband and some girls, so it's great to have other men help," Avant said.
For Mauvet Rawls, who is expecting twins, the baby shower gave her a financial break.
"That was awesome -- I'm halfway there," she said of her first car seat. "I will be buying a separate one for my other one."
She added the shower was a blessing for the whole community.
"I think they're doing a very good thing for Soldiers and not just the Soldiers, but their Family members also," she said.
According to Brownsfield, the idea for the Bundles and Boots shower started in December.
"Operation Homefront came to us and said 'We have 100 car seats. We'd like to throw a baby shower; what do you think?'" she said. "We were like 'Okay, awesome, let's do it.'"
Since then, Operation Homefront kept finding donors, such as Huggies, which donated 16,000 diapers, and ChildCare Aware of Missouri, which made sure there were enough items for 125 women (25 of which were on a waiting list) to attend.
"This is the first time we've teamed up with Operation Homefront to do this sort of an event. Sometimes when you team up, you can reach a little bit further," said Brownsfield.
"We don't know, but we're hoping that maybe this could be a yearly thing," she said.
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