Meet Our Moms: Darla - Mama of 5

Just as COVID-19 was beginning to change life as we knew it, Atlanta mama Darla was in the midst of bracing for a life change of her own. The mom of three was having to step away from her work as a vegan chef to brace for the arrival of her sweet twins.

In what felt like an instant, Darla was suddenly quarantined at home, unable to work, trying to provide for herself and her five children in the midst of a pandemic, all while juggling two newborn babies and helping her three older kids navigate schooling from the house.

For moms like Darla, the everyday stress of mealtimes and schoolwork and baby care are compounded when you’re also worrying about how rent’s going to get paid. Darla was struggling, and needed a little extra help. Like so many moms, though, she didn’t know where to go to access resources, and was also feeling guilty for needing assistance—“how are people gonna see me because I needed help, you know what I mean?”

THANKFULLY, DARLA FOUND TENDER.

“Honestly, it was a really struggling time for me,” she says. “I had faith that I’d get through it, but because of Tender I was able to pay my rent that month. It was a burden off of my back. And I knew I could make it at least another month until something else happened. I didn’t fall behind because y’all were able to help me.”

Tender was able to reach out to Darla within just days of her contacting us, and connected her with the immediate resources she needed to stay afloat.

“I’ve been a single mother and I know how hard it is,” she says. “I’ve never had anywhere I could find resources easily, where someone would reach out to me. I’ve never gotten help that easily, gotten somebody that nice to help me. It was a different experience…I was going through a stressful time, and I didn’t have to keep going back and forth. I didn’t have to provide documents. I felt like you guys trusted me enough to help me with that.”

Since connecting with Tender, Darla’s been able to find some stability for herself and her kids, and has been focusing on providing some all-important snuggles to her newborns Reign and Sevyn, who just turned three months in July.

“Now I’m doing really good,” she says. “My relationship is stable. My kids are stable. Everything has done kind of like a 360.”

Sometimes all it takes is a little TLC, and Tender is so grateful to be able to provide that to the mamas we serve, moms like Darla who remind us that “mothers are what makes the world function.”

“And if they can’t get help,” she says, “where is it gonna come from? How are we gonna raise our children?”

That help’s gonna come from your community, from your village, and it’s gonna come from Tender, too.