A nonprofit in Dallas organized a giveaway with diapers, wipes, and other essentials on June 8.
Viola’s House is a nonprofit that helps mothers who are teens or at risk for homelessness with essential supplies. Founder and executive director of the nonprofit Thana Hickman-Simmons was a teen mom. She said she created the nonprofit for teens moms who are homeless and pregnant between the ages of 18 to 24.
While Hickman-Simmons said that she had a lot of support when she had a child as a teen, that is not always the case.
Viola’s House has a maternity home and provides social services to people who need them. The nonprofit also has a Baby Benefit Boutique. There, people can take parenting classes and get vouchers to shop for baby items.
Two or three times monthly, the people at Viola’s House organize giveaways of resources to parents of kids under the age of 36 months.
The June 8 giveaway was done outside Sam Tasby Middle School in northeast Dallas.
Viola’s House is set up in the Vickery Meadows neighborhood, where many refugees and low-income families can be found. “It’s important to serve this area because they don’t have a lot of access to benefits in this area,” Hickman-Simmons said. “A lot of mothers will be on foot walking over to this giveaway because they don’t have vehicles to get to where they possibly could get benefits and so we want to show them that we will come right where they are to show them that we will meet the needs that they have in this community.”
Even in the middle of formula scarcity, the people at Viola’s House are doing what they can. “We get calls every single day for formula,” Hickman-Simmons said. “We are grateful we do have formula in our warehouse, so when mothers tell us what type of formula they need we are able to give the formula outside of a voucher.”
Mothers who need formula can visit the Baby Benefit Boutique at 3647 Holmes Street. The nonprofit is open every Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Hickman-Simmons said that mothers who visit the Baby Benefit Boutique will not find formula on the shelves. However, she asks them to tell organizers the kind of formula they need so those organizers can provide it.
