We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tess Frear. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tess below.

Hi Tess, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Helping Mamas began in 2014 in Atlanta, GA by my cousin, Jamie Lackey. A social worker at the time, she saw that her clients basic needs weren’t being met and they couldn’t afford the basic necessities to care for their babies and children. So, She took a leap and founded Helping Mamas, with a mission to collect and donate baby supplies to organizations who serve women and children in need in her area. The statistics remain staggering – one in three families in the US can’t afford diapers. With a social service background I realized I need to take that leap of faith and help families in my community. So I reached out to my cousin in 2018 interested in opening a Tennessee location. I started collecting items in my garage and we are now in our 5th space. The more space we have the more families we can serve because it allows us to accept more items. We can host volunteer groups at our space so they can see first hand how the program works.

We now have over 60 partner agencies across East Tennessee serving over 8,000 families to distribute essential baby items such as diapers, clothing, baby wipes, period products and car seats, this helps eliminate the burden of collecting and coordinating essential items for family support workers. They can then spend more time in direct services with the families we serve. We work with refugee centers, clinics, adoption agencies, shelters and foster organizations. We recently were able to get a van for distributions. This will help us get critical items to more rural areas that don’t have access to a large support system.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Helping Mamas began in 2014 in Atlanta, GA by my cousin, Jamie Lackey. A social worker at the time, she saw that her clients basic needs weren’t being met and they couldn’t afford the basic necessities to care for their babies and children. So, She took a leap and founded Helping Mamas, with a mission to collect and donate baby supplies to organizations who serve women and children in need in her area. The statistics remain staggering – one in three families in the US can’t afford diapers. With a social service background I realized I need to take that leap of faith and help families in my community. So I reached out to my cousin in 2018 interested in opening a Tennessee location. I started collecting items in my garage and we are now in our 5th space. The more space we have the more families we can serve because it allows us to accept more items. We can host volunteer groups at our space so they can see first hand how the program works.

We now have over 60 partner agencies across East Tennessee serving over 8,000 families to distribute essential baby items such as diapers, clothing, baby wipes, period products and car seats, this helps eliminate the burden of collecting and coordinating essential items for family support workers. They can then spend more time in direct services with the families we serve. We work with refugee centers, clinics, adoption agencies, shelters and foster organizations. We recently were able to get a van for distributions. This will help us get critical items to more rural areas that don’t have access to a large support system.

I am most proud of my community for continuing to step up and help us provide for those in need. Without their donations, volunteer hours and support we couldn’t continue to reach as many people as we do. I started Helping Mamas Knoxville because I was looking for a way to give back to my community, as well as share my passion with my kids. I have been blessed to get the opportunity to do what I love and my plan is to continue doing it. The beautiful thing about our program is that you can help from anywhere. The one thing that unites all of us, regardless of our background, race, socioeconomic status, is that we love our children,

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

We had our very first fundraiser a week before COVID swept through the U.S. We were so excited to have gained that momentum getting to share about our mission. People were really excited to help us and start volunteering, then things were at a halt. We were considered an essential service so we stayed open during the pandemic. We had to make a lot of adjustments like the rest of the world. We lost volunteers, speaking opportunities and fundraisers. We had to continue paying the bills and taking donations but figure out new ways to do this and still keep everyone safe. We added on additional agencies to support because the need was so great for families unable to access basic needs. We also added on a part time staff and continued growing. We were able to distribute over 179,000 essential items out to families and our partner social service agencies during that time. The need continues to increase for basic needs even today and we as a nonprofit continue to adapt to these changes and continue to serve. Without our community and volunteers we just couldn’t do it!

How’d you meet your business partner?

My CEO and I met in the hospital just after I was born. She was five years old at the time. Our mothers are sisters and they have always been very close, so we have grown up together. I would say we are more like sisters and my children call her Aunt Jamie. We have spent holidays together as well as big milestones in our lives. I was in her wedding when I was in high school and then she was in my wedding while she was pregnant with her first child. She was about to pop so she didn’t love the idea but was there for me anyways :) . When she started Helping Mamas in Georgia I got to help her at events when I went down their to visit. Little did I know I would be starting Helping Mamas Knoxville. Now she is a my sounding board in all things. She has paved the way and always has amazing advice when I need it most.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tennessee.helpingmamas.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helpingmamasknoxville/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helpingmamasknoxville
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/helping-mamas-knoxville/
• Twitter: @helpingmamasTN

Image Credits
Ashley Hoskins Photography. She took the vase picture as well as the one of me holding the microphone. Below the top photo of my Photo by Brittany Conner.