This NSFW T-Shirt Helps Support Moms Worldwide

Molly Guy came up with a creative, clever, and oh-so-fashionable way to support Circle of Health International, a nonprofit that helps mothers and babies in crisis zones get the care they need. (Photo: Instagram)

When Molly Guy, the owner and founder of New York’s Stone Fox Bride, met Sera Bonds, the founder of Circle of Health International, two years ago, Guy was pregnant with her second child. She was introduced to Bonds through her doula, Domino Kirke. Guy felt an immediate connection with Bonds — herself a trained midwife with a master’s degree in public health — and the work Bonds was doing to ensure that mothers and babies in crisis zones had access to essential pre- and postnatal care.

In the 10 years that Circle of Health International has been in existence, it has served more than 3 million women, trained 7,000 health care professionals, and placed 200 volunteer clinicians and health professionals in areas where there are humanitarian emergencies. The nonprofit does everything from delivering birth kits in Sierra Leone to outfitting midwives in Aleppo with medical equipment. It also performs c-sections and runs a clinic on the Texas-Mexico border to serve the women there, often in transit, who might need obstetrics care. By partnering with women-led, community-based health and relief organizations, Circle of Health International is able to support these existing groups with supplies, training, and disaster relief.

That’s why it’s easy to see how a person could feel immediately compelled to help support the work the organization does. And when Guy found herself throwing a baby shower for a friend, she suggested that all attendees make donations to Circle of Health International. The response she got was so enthusiastic that Guy helped organize a formal fundraiser for the organization with actresses Julianne Moore and Jemima Kirke — and in one fell swoop raised $80,000.

Actresses and moms Julianne Moore and Jemima Kirke (both far left) at a fundraiser for Circle of Health International last year. (Photo courtesy of Molly Guy)

Guy then came up with a creative, clever, and oh-so-fashionable way to support Circle of Health International and the needs of mothers in communities less fortunate than her own.

“I made these T-shirts this summer, and people think they’re so funny,” Guy tells Yahoo Style of her Mother F***ing Hood shirts she’s selling once again this week — this time with all proceeds going to the organization. “Whenever I post about them or sell them, they sell out. I decided to tie the T-shirts with Sera being in New York this week to try to raise money and awareness for the work she’s doing.”

The money being raised by the shirts by the end of the week will go directly to a group of 1,000 indigenous women in Nicaragua to fund their attendance at a conference on health and maternity care, and to help them start a clinic of their own.

A photo posted by Sarah Sophie Flicker (@sarahsophief) on Sep 20, 2016 at 3:14pm PDT

“They’re getting the money on Friday,” Guy explains. “I’m so excited that the fruits of our labor will see a turnaround so quickly. The money won’t be sitting in some big relief fund on Capitol Hill. It’s going straight to these women, and this week.”

Guy notes that although “the shirts might be a little irreverent or offensive to some, we’re doing what we set out to do, which is helping women and children in the places that need it.”

The United Nations estimates that about half of all refugees worldwide are women, and that 41 percent of all refugees are children. And four-fifths of refugees are in the developing world, where, as the U.N. puts it, they live in “nations that can least afford to host them.” Furthermore, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 99 percent of all maternal deaths worldwide — that is, death that occurs during pregnancy and childbirth — are in developing countries. Adolescents face the highest risk of complications and death as a result of pregnancy than any other group of women. That said, the WHO also reports that “most maternal deaths are preventable, as the health-care solutions to prevent or manage complications are well known. All women need access to antenatal care in pregnancy, skilled care during childbirth, and care and support in the weeks after childbirth.”

Guy explains that she and everyone else she knows is constantly focused on their children and how best to care for them. “We’re concerned with them not eating too much sugar, we’re concerned with them not watching too much TV, we’re concerned with them getting too much time on the iPad, we’re concerned with potty training correctly and weaning them off their pacifiers. These are all First World issues that come up. … Our resources are so vast. Mother F***ing Hood to me means being exasperated with my kids for not wanting to leaving the playground on Sunday at dinnertime — but for other mothers, it’s making sure they have clean water, that their children are able to thrive in a climate that’s not conducive to their needs.”

Indeed, for Guy, being critically aware of what motherhood means for others is what motherhood itself is all about.

“Minutes after my first was born, I felt my heart had been ripped in half and I felt a deep, cosmic compassion for every living human being, animal, and creature on Earth. I’d always prided myself on having a tough shell, for being gritty,” says Guy. “But once I became a mom, I became much more compassionate and sensitive, especially to other women and what they’re experiencing — and how to help.”

For women who want to come up with their own entrepreneurial ways to support the work of Circle of Health International and the challenges faced by mothers in other parts of the world, Guy encourages them to email her or Bonds directly.

“Or donate,” she says. “Or buy a shirt. There are so many things we can do. Just asking questions is so valuable. Information can be shared and women can begin to encourage their friends to think about what they can do. … I think while we all wish that we were on the ground and getting our hands dirty and making change at a grassroots level, that’s not realistic for most people. So whether you’re using social media to spread the word, telling friends, making things, reaching out to Sera to help with the administrative side of the organization — we all have a skill set that we can lend to the greater cause.”

Guy adds: “It starts with awareness and conversation. I’m here as a resource; Sera’s here as a resource. And the more women that can unite, the more power we have to heal.”

To purchase a shirt in support of Circle of Health International, please visit Stone Fox Bride online.

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