This single mom once struggled with baby supplies. Now she gives them to others for free
When Giovanna Andrews sees a new or expectant mother walk into her new diaper bank in search of free baby supplies, she sparks a connection with them.
Armed with a sweet and gentle disposition, Andrews was in the same position they are only a few years back when she became pregnant in her senior year of college, becoming a single mother to daughter Isabella Harper Andrews.
Even though she was in the midst of her own life-altering struggle, the Wilmington woman founded a small nonprofit called Harper's Heart to help other mothers in need. She runs it with help from her mother, Chauntee, and a few other volunteers.
"I was giving out diapers back then, but I didn't know where my mine would be coming from," she says now, reflecting on the 5½ years since she founded the organization. "I was pulling $20 out of the bottom of my change purse to figure out how I was going to get my next pack."
The Closet of Love opens at Wilmington Public Library
She remembers reaching out for help through social services while pregnant and having people "look at me like I'm the dirt on the bottom of their shoe," as she put it in a 2019 Delaware Online/The News Journal interview.
With that life history and experience, she's now dedicated to helping other women in the same position, but this time they are met by her: a welcoming, motherly figure who knows exactly what they are going through.
Over the years, Harper's Heart has gone from a shoestring operation hosting one-off diaper giveaways to a non-profit with major sponsors, giving away more than $400,000 worth of baby supplies.
And earlier this month, Harper's Heart took its next major step, opening the year-round Closet of Love, a diaper bank and community closet where mothers can come for everything from diapers, clothes and formula to bottles, pacifiers and wipes.
It's located in Wilmington Public Library on Rodney Square (10 E. 10th St.) in its second floor Jobs Center room.
It is there where you can find Andrews, her lone full-time employee and members of her 20-person team of volunteers every Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., giving away free baby supplies (and a big dose of hope and love) to a stream and pregnant women and new mothers, many of whom come pushing their little ones in a stroller.
For more information on getting help for babies ages 0-24 months, you can call or text (302) 669-9302 or go to harpersheart.org.
It's been about a year since Andrews made her Harper's Heart work a full-time job, dedicating herself fully to helping women just like her.
"There's a real sense of fulfillment; of purpose," she says, letting her irrepressible smile shine. "And I get to teach my daughter the value of giving back to others. It's humbling."
'Always uplifting'
At the Wilmington Public Library, you can tell when Closet of Love is open based on the flow of young mothers leaving with their arms filled with packs of diapers and other essentials.
Some haven't even had their babies yet, and are busily preparing for their big day the best they can.
Saleema Rivers, 24, is one of them, arriving early to get some items on what was her due date for her third child.
FLASHBACK Once a single mother in crisis, Giovanna Andrews now helps other moms in need
"Oh, my God, I see everybody with their strollers and I'm so ready for my baby to come out," she jokes.
She enters the room feeling a bit down, she admits, but after spending some time with the bubbly Andrews, seeing others mothers with their newborns and feeling the support from Harper's Heart, she ends up doing a little dance with a big smile before heading home.
"Just the atmosphere itself made me feel better alone," says Rivers, of Wilmington, who heard about Harper's Heart from their Instagram account and has since spread the word to her friends and family. "It's always uplifting."
She, too, was a single mother, but she was 17 when she had her first son.
"It was really, really hard," says Rivers, who is now in a relationship with the father of the baby on the way, her first daughter. "And something like this helps you save money or helps you when you're in desperate need."
One of those new mothers Rivers spotted was Colonial School District elementary school educator Chadia Garyeazon, 27.
The married mother of one drove up from Newark while on maternity leave to pick up some things for 2-month-old Tatiana after learning about Andrews' non-profit through its Facebook page.
After receiving a bunch of items she didn't need or had too many of at her baby showers, Garyeazon discovered she could trade those items in for things needed through Harper's Heart.
"Life is expensive from diapers to wipes to formula and this definitely helps," she says.
From small time...
Andrews was away from home and in her final year studying communications at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania near Wilkes-Barre when she became pregnant.
The Philadelphia native and 2013 Newark High School graduate was eight months pregnant when she accepted her degree with a GPA above 3.0 and as a member of three honor societies.
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After Andrews had been to Bloomsburg's Your Loving Choices pregnancy center in Pennsylvania, where she earned "Mommy Dollars" through classes redeemable for diapers, baby clothes and more, she was inspired to do the same when she got back to Delaware.
She was changing Harper, then 5 months old, into a donated onesie she had earned with "Mommy Dollars" when Harper's Heart was born in 2018.
It started by accepting small donations of baby items and then holding giveaways, such as a Thousand Bib & Book Giveaway at Wilmington Public Library or the Thousand Diaper Giveaway at Wilmington's Kingswood Community Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Day once year.
Even before becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, she was honored for her work in 2019, accepting the prestigious Delaware Jefferson Award for Outstanding Service Benefiting Local Communities with her daughter on stage and her mother in the audience at The Queen.
"Harper's Heart is our story, our journey together as mommy and daughter," Giovanna said during her acceptance speech, turning to Isabella. "I hope that you know that everything that you have — you always have to pay forward because someone loved you before you were born."
...to big time
With plenty of media attention ranging from an appearance on "LIVE with Kelly and Ryan" to a write-up in Woman's Day magazine, Harper's Heart has grown over the years from a small rented storage space near Wilmington's Hilltop neighborhood to its new distribution room, which is donated by the library.
In between, Harper's Heart had rented storage space at CSC Station on the Riverfront before opening its first year-round distribution center in the 17-story 300 Delaware Avenue building in downtown Wilmington. They outgrew the space in only six months before securing the new library location.
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During its run, Harper's Heart has continued baby supply giveaways, added car seat, turkey and dinner giveaways and developed courses on subjects such as as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome prevention, toddler safety and more. A breastfeeding course also was created in partnership with breast pump company Medela, which included a giveaway of $50,000 worth of their products.
The major sponsors Harper's Heart has attracted over the years include Wilmington institutions such as the Longwood Foundation, Delaware Community Foundation, the Welfare Foundation and Laffey-McHugh Foundation, which has funded the first year of the diaper bank, stocking it with 21,000 diapers.
Harper's Heart serviced 366 families at the diaper bank's first six months at 300 Delaware Avenue with even larger numbers expected now that they are located at the larger library space.
Harper's Heart also has teamed up with the state of Delaware for baby formula distribution after the state teamed up with Donate Delaware to purchase44,000 canisters of Care Infant Formula from Gensco Pharma. And organizations ranging from the AmeriHealth health care insurance company to the state's Women, Infants and Children special supplemental nutrition program also help spread the word to needy families.
Even though she's been there every step along the way, it's hard for Andrews to believe how far her efforts have taken Harper's Heart.
"I could never have believed this five years ago ― I work for myself and do something every single day that brings me joy," she says. "I'm walking in my truth."
Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and X (@ryancormier).
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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: The Closet of Love diaper bank opens at Wilmington Public Library
