Helping Mamas elevates the well-being and dignity of women by providing diapers, period products, and other essential baby supplies. We harness the power of community support so that all families can thrive.
History of Helping Mamas
Helping Mamas was founded by a social worker who saw a gap in services.
There was no coordinated effort to collect and distribute essential baby items or period products to women and children in need. After watching moms having to use plastic grocery bags for diapers or washout and reuse disposable diapers, she knew something needed to be done. There are no public assistance programs to provide for diapers or period products. Parents were missing work because of diaper need, babies were experiencing severe diaper rash infections and teen girls were missing a week of school a month because of a lack of period products.
Combining her passion for motherhood and social work, Jamie Lackey founded Helping Mamas out of her garage. Collecting baby supplies from friends and family members and then distributing them to social workers serving women and children. By 2018, Helping Mamas had grown into a 9,000 square foot building where we operate today.
Serving nearly 60,000 children a year and distributing 2 million essential items to the community. Helping Mamas has grown to fight diaper need and period poverty throughout the state of Georgia and in Knoxville, TN.
MEET OUR TEAM
Jamie Lackey
Founder & CEO
Stephanie Ungashick
Chief Advancement Officer
Stephanie Owens
Director of Partnerships and Impact
LaWanda Hankins
Director of Finance
Tiffany Townsend
Senior Program Manager
Eva Cooke
Senior Manager of Community Engagement
Destiny Phillips
HR and Program Specialist
Victoria Salazar
Administrative Assistant
Tyson Roach
Warehouse Coordinator
Jayla Mosby-Thomas
Donor Database Coordinator
Mark McMasters
Courier
MEET OUR BOARD
Nichole Brown, Account Director at Sinch Engage, Chair
Dwayna Haley, Chief Brand & Communications Officer, Vice Chair
Kathleen Morris, Owner and Principal Planner at Kathleen Morris Events, Past Chair
Megan Knight, Senior Manager at Forvis, LLP, Treasurer
Annique Riddle, Senior Strategic Planning Director at Cox Automotive, Secretary
Amy Refeca, Founder and Managing Attorney at Atlanta Wills and Trusts
Kathleen Chrisman, President at ASFIP Foundation
Lisa Ford, Learning & Delivery Manager at Coca-Cola
Provi Fulp, Costume Designer – IATSE
Laquanda Brooks, Senior Vice-President of Population and Clinical Operations at Centene Corporation
Terri McGuire, Trust Services Advisor at Pinnacle Financial Partners (Knoxville)
Mark Lawrence, Vice President at Roark Capital
Joi Mindingall, Assistant Legal Advisor at GSU
Shalya Forte, Head of Strategic Partnerships, SiriusXM
Jamie Lackey, CEO of Helping Mamas
MEET OUR VISTAS
AmeriCorps VISTA is a national service program dedicated to ending poverty by building the capacity of nonprofit organizations and public service agencies.
Helping Mamas is proud to have 8 AmeriCorps VISTA Members serving with us each year.
“The Vista program at Helping Mamas has shown me what I am capable of doing when given support, opportunity, and endless room to grow in a workplace. We are encouraged to try new things, expand our responsibilities, and take on new challenges daily regardless of prior experience. Not knowing how to do something and asking for help is treated as a possibility to learn and try something new rather than a discouragement. ” – Emma Koenig
“Helping Mamas is an amazing VISTA Location and nonprofit! The staff are always encouraging us to grow personally and professionally and offer many opportunities to make a difference at Helping Mamas and in our community. I am so glad I served my terms here and met such incredible people!” – Sara Benist
“Working at Helping Mamas has helped me develop a multitude of skills that I can apply to my future career in health and nonprofit. I’ll forever be grateful for the amazing experience of not only getting to be a VISTA, but partaking with an organization that does so much good. Every VISTA who works here is personally invested in the outcome of Helping Mamas’ success and we strive to do the best we can each day!” – Farhia Alam