N.W.T.'s Moms, Boobs and Babies group wins national volunteer award

A peer support group for moms across the Northwest Territories has won a national volunteer award. 

Moms, Boobs and Babies is an N.W.T.-based, volunteer-run group created in 1999, to help parents with breastfeeding and other challenges — like potty training, postpartum depression to sleepless nights.

The organization won the 2019 Canada's Volunteer Award in the social innovation category, according to a government of Canada news release from Aug. 6.

"We're very honoured," said Toni Anderson, co-chair of Moms, Boobs and Babies. "Our volunteers, we work really, really hard and ... we're just delighted to be recognized for all our hard work."

On top of its 24/7 toll-free helpline, Anderson said the group held monthly in-person gatherings prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but has since moved everything online.

"We very quickly had to adapt to the new environment," she said. 

The group started offering postnatal classes and peer-support gatherings on Zoom. A few organizations and individuals also held fitness and nutrition classes online, Anderson said.

"It actually transitioned quite well," said Anderson. "As you can imagine some parents who may have a two-week-old baby, it's actually easier to log in from home."

Anderson said a bonus is that anyone across the territory can participate in the online classes.

The $5,000 grant from the award will be used to keep the group's programming going, said Anderson.

Mom who got help nominated group for award

Katie Johnson, a mother of two, says she nominated the group for the national award.

"I've known for about a month ago that they had won. So I was very excited a month ago, but I had to keep it a secret," said Johnson. 

That's when I met ... some of my strongest and best friends.- Katie Johnson, N.W.T. mom

She said her nomination was to mark the group's two decades of existence. 

"I just felt that that time and that amount of effort, especially by really busy moms, deserves recognition."

Johnson said the group was a big source of comfort when she went through a traumatic experience with her first child in 2015. 

"I had a very traumatic birth experience and my daughter then wasn't gaining weight and we were having a lot of feeding issues," she said. "I was having a lot of postpartum anxiety and different emotional issues."

That's when she found Moms, Boobs and Babies.

"It was just that feeling of being really recognized by the other moms, and having all of these whirlwind of emotions that I was having validated," she said. "That's when I met ... some of my strongest and best friends."

Johnson said she hopes that through this award, more people in the N.W.T. can know about the group and join it when it they have a baby.

She says it's an inclusive, accepting group for all types of parents with all kinds of feeding choices.

Co-chair Anderson said the group welcomes new members and volunteers, and the best way to get in touch is through its Facebook page.

Anderson said a ceremony — where the group gets a pin and certificate signed by the prime minister — is planned for next spring in Ottawa, depending on how the pandemic situation goes.