Albany Cares to shower mothers with love, gifts on Saturday

ALBANY — An Albany nonprofit group is throwing a Mother’s Day baby shower expected to bring gifts to several hundred moms-to-be and mothers with children up to 2 years old.

The Albany Cares Group is looking to help out area women with the baby shower that starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday at 803 W. Broad Ave.

The organization, which has been supporting community efforts for eight years, also is looking to raise awareness about infant and maternal mortality and to let women know that there is assistance available, ACG Community Project Director Tosh Sevier said.

“Coming up to Mother’s Day, we wanted to help those mothers who have brought children into the world,” he said. ”Some of them don’t have the resources or the friends to hold a baby shower.”

The United States has among the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the developed world. Among high-income nations, the U.S. rate of 5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births shows a wide discrepancy gap with countries like Norway, which has the best outcomes at 1.6 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Georgia ranks eighth-worst in the country in maternal deaths.

“It’s a huge problem in our community,” Sevier said. “My wife and I lost a child from miscarriage. It’s horrendous, and I know what it’s like to bear that pain.”

Poverty and lack of access to health care for expectant mothers are among the issues that are impacting the community, Sevier said.

ACG has teamed up with Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital and CareSource for Saturday’s event.

“We’re going to keep doing things to raise awareness,” he said. “Phoebe, CareSource, Albany Area Primary Health Care, all these institutions have resources. We as a nonprofit are raising awareness. People don’t know about the resources that are available.

“This is a way to get that information to the community about the health literacy part and the resources. We just want to connect those dots.”

ACG can be contacted by calling Sevier at (229) 291-8696.

Special Photo