Nurtured Village Hampers: Supporting New Mums and Bubs in The Hills

It may take a village to raise a child, but this registered charity is reconnecting mothers one hamper at a time with their newly opened Hills network.

The Nurtured Village Hampers is a national charity that recognises a gap in the traditional village of support in early parenthood.

Starting as a kindness initiative in Brisbane by founder Emma Gray, the campaign has now expanded to include over 21 locations across Australia. Kaitlyn Bywater, Executive Director and Manager of Operations for The Nurtured Village was excited to share the story of the charity’s inception in 2019:

“Emma, our founder, received a hamper when she was in a new-born bubble with her first child. There was no knock on the door, it was just dropped off by some of her husband’s gym friends who knew that it wasn’t the time for new mums to host. Since that moment, she’s just been paying that kindness forward”.

In a campaign to advocate for and promote maternal mental health, The Nurtured Village organises home cooked meals, store bought foods, and gifts in the form of a hamper that is randomly gifted to a young family each month in each town and city.

At the beginning of each month, nominations are opened for any biological mothers, foster, kinship-care or stepmothers. As this charity is not means-tested, the results are drawn at random unless a highrisk case is flagged, allowing mothers to access this service without a mental health diagnosis.

Since January this year, a new village has opened up in the Hills spanning from Wisemans Ferry to Baulkham Hills. Andrea Pateman, Glenorie local, is the group facilitator and would love mums to join the Facebook Group: ‘Nurtured Village Hampers Hills District Sydney’.

Creating support structures for new mums is essential in combating maternal mental health issues such as postnatal depression and anxiety, which affects up to 1 in 3 women.

The enormous physical, emotional and social changes after becoming a mum are rarely acknowledged and rather, become an invisible burden for women. Marketing Manager Michael Holani reflected on the lack of available mental health support as he said,

“Maternal mental health is not something that is talked about, there still seems to be a stigma for mental health. Our charity recognises that there is a gap for mothers and we aim to create strong support networks to address this”.

Kaitlyn Bywater, has also seen first-hand the common struggles faced by new parents and why their mission to support new mothers is essential for maternal mental health:

“By creating these virtual mother groups online, we aim to reduce the social isolation that new mums face. But our physical hamper also resolves financial burdens and mental loads, all whilst creating connection and a safe space.”

Since January to April 2024, The Nurtured Village Hampers has distributed 107 hampers across Australia consisting of over 8715 donations. Kaitlyn also hopes to continue expanding their locations and reflected on their grass-root approach in 2019:

“We went from a bunch of mums across the country paying it forward with coffee, to a board of nine and 85 volunteers – the growth has been so inspiring!”

If you know a special mum between the ages of 14-51 years who needs a helping hand, you can nominate them through the Hills District Facebook Page or on The Nurtured Village Hamper’s website ‘Nomination Form’.

Hills District mums can also reach out to [email protected] to connect to clothing, food relief and other essential services especially for domestic violence situations.

For those passionate about maternal and women’s healthcare, The Nurtured Village Hampers is seeking volunteers for roles in hamper coordination, administrative work, and distributing flyers in community centres. This charity is also recognised by Centrelink as a childcare subsidiary activity, and can be contacted at [email protected].