Moms Are Leaving Supportive Post-Its in an Airport Pumping Pod & the Results Are Amazing
Moms can't be reminded enough that it takes a village to raise little ones, and seeing concrete proof that other parents have their back is invaluable. That's exactly what a mom of one from Astoria, New York offered up when she posted in a Facebook group called Working Astoria Moms to share photos she snapped at LaGuardia Airport. The images were of tons of Post-It notes left behind by other moms in a Mamava lactation suite.
"For traveling mamas, feeling the love at Concourse D in LaGuardia Terminal B's Mamava pod," Grace Stevens wrote alongside the images.
Stevens herself got the ball rolling for other moms to share their inspirational messages. "The Post-It notes with inspirational messages in the nursing pods was a personal project of mine that I started when I returned to work at LaGuardia Gateway Partners—the operator/developer of Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport—after having my daughter in August 2019," she explains. "I started the initiative with just a couple of Post-It notes with words of encouragement for other moms and left notepads and pens behind for other moms to do the same. It has really taken off from there."
Judging from Stevens' recent photos, that's an understatement.
Grace Stevens
Grace Stevens
Her goal? "I am a working mom who travels occasionally, and I thought that I could share this nursing pod amenity and messages of encouragement as a way to inspire and support other working/traveling moms in our community," Stevens explains. "It’s a hard job to juggle travel and nursing or feeding your baby, and this makes it a little easier. Sharing resources and inspiration like this with other moms and families is one of the best ways we can help each other. It can feel lonely at times trying to navigate a complicated process, like managing nursing and traveling, and if we know that others have been in a similar situation before and can share words of encouragement, it makes it a little easier."
Traveling moms using the lactation suite aren't the only ones who are contributing to the cause. "My colleagues have supported the project by constantly refilling the pods with new note pads and pens for other moms and dads to continue to leave notes for traveling families," Stevens says. "Having the whole team on board has allowed this to really grow to what it is today."
Ultimately, Stevens hopes that spreading the love this way serves to encourage moms to be there for one another in a variety of ways. She points out, "As some of the notes on the wall indicate, if only we could all supported each other in this way in all that we do, we’d all feel a lot better."
