In Kind Boxes

Because every mom deserves quality postpartum care.

Oregon nonprofits

October Update

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We have officially donated 500 boxes in 2021, and 1000 gift boxes since our first boxes were available in November 2019!!!

We started our month with a delivery of 20 gift boxes to the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center Women’s Clinic. We also sent 6 gift boxes to the BeLoved Black Birth Centering program in California. The Mother and Child Education Center in Portland was given a donation of 10 gift boxes. We ended the month with a new partnership! We’re excited to be working with the Washington County District Attorney’s Office in support of their Cribs for Kids program. We donated 20 gift boxes to pair with the cribs and other materials their office is providing.

In honor of the amazing work that Doulas and Midwives do for families, we re-opened the application for our gift box sponsorship program. This program is for birth workers who offer their services to families in need in their community. We are offering three doulas/midwives a gift box a month for 2022. The deadline to apply was November 1. Winners will be notified by email by November 30.

Our Instagram Live series “Mamas Making an Impact” continues with more amazing guests this month. In this series, we love to highlight moms doing good, and giving back in some way. We also have very real and honest conversations about motherhood, and postpartum. Click through to watch conversations with Bethany Braun Silva, Trae Bodge, and Aliza Friedlander. We were also lucky to have local photographer Ashlie Behm join us for our “Let’s Talk” series where she shared her best tips for taking photos of our kids using our phones.

And finally, we got wonderful news from Fred Meyer, that In Kind Boxes has been accepted into their Community Rewards Program. If you’d like to support In Kind Boxes while shopping at Fred Meyer, please log into your rewards account, and find the Community Rewards section. Simply search for In Kind Boxes, or use code: YS234.

As we head into the holiday season, the demand for our donated boxes increases. We are in need of your support in order to keep up with demand. Please consider donating, and help us show postpartum moms in need that they matter, and that they’re not alone.

Thank you for being part of our village of support. We couldn’t do what we do without you!

~Maria Berglund, Founder of In Kind Boxes

September Update

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Being kind to ourselves, and spreading kindness and love through out our community is important. It’s something we strive for all year, but love highlighting it with you during this challenge. We loved sharing our Kindness Calendar with you for the #BeKind21 Challenge in partnership with the Born This Way Foundation.

During our Instagram live series Mamas Making an Impact, we got to have some wonderful conversations with amazing moms who are making a positive impact on the world through their work.

In September we chatted with:

This IG Live series has become a favorite part of the content we share on Instagram because of the real and raw conversations we’re having about motherhood. If you haven’t been able to watch one live, don’t worry! We have them all saved to our IGTV. Watch them here.

Our Founder, Maria Berglund, was up to some interesting things this month including:

  • A panelist speaker at Social Media Camp’s Social Media for Non-Profits Summit
  • A guest on MORE Magazine’s Founder to Founder series with MORE’s Founder Arianna Cruz. Find that interview here on their YouTube channel.
  • Ashlie Behm, a local Portland photographer featured Maria in her Womxn Warrior Blog series. Find the full interview here. Ashlie takes amazing photos, and we’re so grateful to be able to share these with you. If you are local please check her out!

We are always so grateful for the opportunity to share about our charity work, and our mission to help moms feel seen and supported on their postpartum journey. If you would like to help shine a light on In Kind Boxes’ work, please feel free to reach out to us! Email: info@inkindboxes.org

This month we donated nearly 50 gift boxes locally!! 30 boxes were donated to Ronald McDonald House in Portland, which will also be distributed to their Bend location, as well as to the Sherwood Family Resource Center in Sherwood, and Raphael House PDX. Donation delivery days are our absolute favorite!!! We also sent gift boxes to Maternity Journey in Houston, Texas to support mamas displaced by hurricane Ida.

Thank you for donating to and supporting In Kind Boxes! We couldn’t do what we do without you.

~Maria

Pop Up Baby Shower Event

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Check out our Live segment on KOIN AM News Extra this morning!

We are so excited to collaborate two of our local nonprofit partners, Baby Blues Connection, and Mother & Child Education Center, and host this event for Portland families. In Kind will be donating 20 of our postpartum gift boxes to families who applied to participate in the event. Emails will be going out Monday, July 26th informing those who were chosen.

Along with gift boxes, some other local businesses have donated items as well. Thank you to Elle & Lu Flowers, The Hungry Hero Dessert Co., and Evelynne Gomes Greenberg Photography for your contributions! If you are a local business and would like to donate items to the event, please send us an email, or reach out via DM on Instagram (@inkindboxes).

Event details: July 29th from 11am to 12:30pm, at the Mother & Child Education Center located in NE Portland. (1515 NE 41st Ave, Portland, OR 97232)

How you can help: If you would like to support our nonprofit, and encourage future events like these, make a donation today. All funding we receive goes towards purchasing the natural and organic products we fill our boxes with.

Thank you for your support! We hope this is the first of many events to come!

-Maria

December Update

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In December we donated more gift boxes than we ever have before! We were able to donate 50 gift boxes to families in need!!! That was made possible because of you. Thank you to everyone who donated to our gift box donation drive. Your generosity on Giving Tuesday was amazing. And we’re thankful to those who held Fundraisers on Facebook for that event. Not only did you help us raise money, but you also helped build awareness for the work we’re doing to help moms. Every action that you take whether it’s giving a moment of your time to give us a review, like or share our posts, send us kind messages, or tag us in your photos. All of it means so much! We’re so grateful for the support you’ve given us this year. We couldn’t have helped the number of families we did without you. In 2020 we helped 465 families by providing them with gift boxes! That’s more than a gift box a day!!!

In December we made gift box donation deliveries to several of our local partners. Domestic Violence Resource Center received 5 gift boxes, as well as a large box filled with Earth Mama Organics deodorant. Megan from DVRC says they’ll be using the deodorant to fill the hygiene kits they give to families. Raphael House PDX received 10 gift boxes. We always enjoy meeting with Quinn and hearing about the amazing work they’re doing.

Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center Women’s Clinic received their fifth gift box donation delivery in 2020 of 25 gift boxes, bringing their total for the year to 125 gift boxes!!!! We have been told that they are currently experiencing a baby boom, so we plan on making another gift box donation delivery very soon! Mother and Child Education Center also received their fifth delivery in 2020, totaling 25 gift boxes for the year. Ronald McDonald House has their annual holiday market where families can “shop” for gifts for free. We are excited to include our gift boxes in that market, and bring some joy to new and expecting mamas staying at RMHC Oregon over the holidays.

We worked hard to finalize some new programs that we will be revealing in the New Year. Maria shared a Reel on Instagram on New Year’s Eve with the exciting news that we have launched a gift box donation program that is open to families in need across the United States! We’re so excited to spread more love and kindness to mamas, and birthing parents in a bigger way in 2021.

Thank you for being here, and supporting our mission to help moms. Wishing you a happy and healthy new year!

~Maria