By Beacon Staff
Despite a 25-year history of helping new and expecting mothers with everything from diapers to child care lessons, state funding for The Nest of Des Moines County has continually traveled one direction — downward.
As The Nest’s program coordinator Karen Erickson acknowledged, that’s the unfortunate funding trend for most non-profit organizations.
Erickson celebrated her 20th anniversary at The Nest and has spent much of that time drumming-up community donations to replace lost grant dollars. She hesitated to name all the local entities that donate, fearful she would leave one out.
“We have some amazing churches,” she said.
The latest cut, which was the elimination of a $40,000 Early Childhood Iowa Grant, won’t be deep enough to shutter The Nest. However, it will force the board of directors to readjust its programs.
“This is not our first time making adjustments,” Erickson said. “We’ll see what they can come up with this time.”
The Nest, which offers weekly classes for new and expecting parents in its Burlington office, taught classes in Danville and Mediapolis. Extension learning was cut three years ago due to the loss of a $15,000 grant.
“We’re doing more fundraisers. A lot more fundraisers,” Erickson said.
This past fiscal year, The Nest provided aid to 126 local mothers. They were either referred to the program, court-ordered to be there or simply found out about it on their own. Parents and expecting mothers can attend weekly classes until their child is in kindergarten, earning points to purchase essentials such as diapers and baby food.
“Diapers are not cheap,” said expecting mother Sarah Herrington, who recently moved back to Burlington from Michigan.
Through The Nest and her family, Herrington has found the kind of support she simply didn’t get in Michigan. Giving birth during a pandemic is daunting enough, but doing so without support is a nightmare.
“I grew up here. I really like it here,” she said.
Several years ago, Herrington would have had access to free child care through The Nest. That service is gone too — another casualty of funding cuts.
Aside from grants and community donations, The Nest survives entirely on annual funding from The United Way and The Community Foundation of Des Moines County. Even during the beginning of the pandemic, The Nest continued to serve.
“We never shut down,” Erickson said.
Without The Nest, Burlington resident Nina Kelley might not have been able to save her child’s life. Her son was about a year old at the time, choking on a McDonald’s french fry. No one in the restaurant offered help, she said.
Kelley’s motherly instinct kicked in, and she immediately moved to help him. Thanks to her CPR training, she knew exactly what to do, using the baby Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the french fry.
Kelley is grateful to her doctor for recommending The Nest.
“He (Kelley’s son) was able to breathe after that. He didn’t even cry. Then he turned around and ate the fry anyways,” she said with a laugh.
The parents who attend the program are like family to staff members. Kelley was in tears during her interview because she had just graduated from the program. She didn’t get a ceremony due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, but she did get a certificate.
“I’m going to miss everyone so much,” she said.
The babies often come to class with their mothers. And Erickson is now seeing some of those babies come back 20 years later with babies of their own.
“It’s amazing,” she said.
For more information on how to donate or how to enroll in the program, visit The Nest of Des Moines County at https://dmcnest.weebly.com/index.html.
You can also call The Nest at (319) 753-3150 or visit at 214 N. Fourth St. Suite 3C in Burlington.
Photo by Joy Mack
Nellie Ancelet of Burlington holds up her daughter Millie during a recent parenting class at The Nest of Des Moines County. The agency is dedicated to helping new and expecting mothers.