支持单身母亲

作为一名常去教堂的人，UnityPoint Health-St的IT专业人士。 Luke’s, and community leader, Starlet Smith ’17, 19 MBA now finds herself in the same situation as her mother.

“My sisters, my mom, and my best friend all have histories of being single parents,” she says. “It’s a foundation of who I am.”

作为一名单身母亲，史密斯说，她面临的最大机遇是努力独立地为自己和8岁的儿子克里斯托弗创造尽可能好的生活。

“Everything I am is because of him,” said Smith. “He’s my ambition to work hard. 在我拥有他之前，什么都不重要。 有了他之后，我想尽我所能成为最好的人。”

After Christopher was born, she earned her associate degree, then continued on to Mount Mercy where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business.

“I am the true definition of a single mother,” says Smith. “I haven’t been away from my son for more than two overnights. When I go out of town, he’s with me. In nearly everything I do, my son is there.” 例如，她和克里斯托弗周六一起上瑜伽课，周日一起去教堂做礼拜。

“我不想永远靠食品券过活。 我想知道有什么资源可以帮助我自给自足。”

随着史密斯与其他单身母亲相处的时间越来越长，她们开始分享故事，交换想法。 她们都对该地区单身母亲能得到的食物和住房资源表示感谢，但缺少了一些东西：如何成为更好的母亲的支持和建议。

“I didn’t want to be on food stamps forever,” says Smith. “I wondered what resources were out there to help me become self-sufficient. What is out there to inspire single moms and tell them, ‘You can do this! You can be better than what you are!’? There was nothing out there for that.”

委员会成员要么利用自己的资源聘请专业专家和演讲者，要么接受社区成员和组织的捐款。 “为单身妈妈加油”还为单身母亲和她们的孩子在当地医院或麦当劳之家等地提供定期的志愿者机会。

When local single mothers give birth in the Cedar Rapids area, they also receive Smith’s contact information to use whenever they need resources or mentoring.

“We are beginning to fill the void of what was missing here,” Smith says. In fact, she’s hearing from single mothers across the United States who are asking how they can get involved, or whether local FiredUp for Single Moms chapters can be formed in other places.

“We keep thinking it’s a small group, but it’s becoming a lot bigger than how we envisioned it,” said Smith. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to help other single moms better themselves and the lives of their children.”