Double your Donation to Support Families

By Jeremy Higgins
Special to The Davis Enterprise

The Yolo Crisis Nursery is here for families when they are without a support system and need assistance. Day in and day out, our staff and client families are addressing unimaginable challenges. Marianna, a mother of three children — 14 years old, 2 years old and 4 months old — came to the nursery because of a family health crisis. 

Marianna had always been blessed with good health. At four months pregnant with her third child, she and her husband learned their baby had heart complications and only one kidney. This news was emotionally complicated and difficult to process. Adding to the family’s stress and confusion, Marianna and her husband speak Spanish and are only able to communicate with their doctors via a translator. 

A month after her baby, Mateo, was born, he needed heart surgery. The surgery resulted in complications and Mateo was placed on a ventilator and feeding tube. Mateo’s prognosis is hopeful, but it could take up to three years for him to learn to eat and breathe independently. 

With two older children at home, Marianna was relying heavily on her mother to care for her 2-year-old daughter, Mia, and her 14-year-old son, Santiago, while Marianna was with Mateo at the hospital and her husband worked. This family’s support system began to crumble when Marianna’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.  The surgery and chemotherapy left Marianna’s mom unable to care for Mia. Thankfully, a nurse at the hospital identified the family’s childcare challenges and referred Marianna to the Yolo Crisis Nursery.

Our Spanish-speaking staff welcomed Marianna and Mia at the nursery. The nursery provided care packages for the family and cared for Mia during the day, while Marianna took care of her mother and attended classes to learn how to properly care for Mateo at home while her husband worked. Mia struggled to be apart from her mother and grandmother. The nursery staff helped Mia feel welcome and she quickly came to love her time at the nursery. Over several weeks, our bilingual counselors worked with Marianna. Together they worked to secure childcare assistance for the family and found permanent daycare for Mia closer to the family’s home. 

Marianna is very grateful for all the help her family received at the Yolo Crisis Nursery. After several long months apart, Marianna is so excited to soon bring Mateo home for the first time to live with his family and be with his big brother and sister every day.

On Tuesday, Nov. 29, people from around the world will come together to thank, help, give, show kindness, and share what they have with those in need for Giving Tuesday. This year at the Yolo Crisis Nursery, we are focused on Giving & Gratitude. All Giving Tuesday donations will help to keep our doors open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to offer life-altering services to children whose families are in crisis this holiday season.

From now through Giving Tuesday, we are raising $100,000 to help children in Yolo County find a brighter future. These funds will provide:

• 250 safe stays for children in need of a safe place and nurturing care;
• 4,000 warm and nutritious meals;
• 500 care packages of essentials like clothing, food, diapers, formula, shoes, and blankets.

Every child has the right to grow up in a safe, stable, and loving home. Families with young children are continually challenged to adequately provide the necessities like food, clothing, and shelter. They need your help.

We are beyond grateful to have four donors coming together to offer a dollar-for-dollar matching gift up to $30,000 for all Giving Tuesday gifts received before 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 29. This match will double your donation’s impact and will fund the life-altering, life-saving services currently offered by the Yolo Crisis Nursery.

Thank you to our generous donors the Brattesani Family Charitable Fund, Andrew and Thea Minsk, and two families who would like to remain anonymous for joining forces to offer a $30,000 dollar-for-dollar matching gift! Please donate today: www.yolocrisisnursery.org.

— This article is by Jeremy Higgins is the vice president of Yolo Crisis Nursery. It was originally published in the Davis Enterprise on November 27, 2022