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If you're a mom, you know.
Being a mom can be incredibly rewarding and incredibly overwhelming at times.
About one in seven women develop postpartum depression and many more suffer from anxiety, all while still trying to live up to the high expectations of being a mom.
"Being moms, we understand," said Allie Lohman, president and co-founder of the All For Mom's Foundation. "That society puts so much pressure on us to have everything together especially within the home."
The All For Moms Foundation is a local group of volunteers who provide help for mothers when things get tough.
They help re-organize homes and connect moms to mental health services.
"I think a lot of it was survival mode before," said Marjorie Brahm, a mom who received help from the foundation this month.
The pain comes in waves, for Brahm the first was postpartum depression, then getting laid off and then two close family member deaths.
Taking care of the kids was one thing, but taking care of the home became a mountain of clutter too high to climb.
"It was work to want to do anything," Brahn said. “There was a lot of overwhelming feelings and stress.”
You've heard the phrase - it takes a village.
"If they don't have a village to ask, a lot of times moms will just go to those little communities online," said Katie Warner, vice president and co-founder of the foundation. "People posting, 'I need help in my home. Is there any maid recommendations? 'Hey I have postpartum depression, I'm trying to get ahead of my house, could you guys recommend someone to come help us?'
After seeing social media posts like those, Lohman and Warner came up with a plan to be that community for other mothers.
"And those moms can then come in and they can breathe and they can focus on the other stuff that is way more important," Warner said.
They formed the All For Moms Foundation to first help clear clutter from homes and then evolved to connect moms who need mental health services.
They provide that village for moms struggling to stay afloat in an ocean of expectations.
"Yeah, that's what we're told," Brahm said. "You should have it all together and you may not need it, somebody else may need it more and it was like, it's okay to ask for help."
The waves might break differently for each mother, but that feeling of treading water while barely keeping your head up is not uncommon.
"It's truly one of the most lonely experiences a woman can go through," Lohman said. "And so to have a community of people who are saying, 'Hey, I've been there, I've experienced it.' That alone is so rewarding to the moms who feel like they finally have someone."
The foundation has an Experience KC fundraiser on September 24th.
They also need volunteers to reach their goal of doubling the number of missions they go on each month.
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