Brownieland Volunteers with Motherhood Beyond Bars in Honor of Random Acts of Kindness Week

Brownieland partnered with Motherhood Beyond Bars (MBB) for our February Volunteer Project, writing letters to incarcerated mothers in honor of Random Acts of Kindness Week. Motherhood Beyond Bars is an Atlanta-based nonprofit that provides support for infants born to incarcerated women and works to reunify families. This isn’t the first time we’ve partnered with this incredible organization. For our January 2021 Volunteer Project, Brownieland teamed up with MBB for our Quilted Together Project, where we sent letters and donations to incarcerated mothers. 

In our Random Acts of Kindness letters, we included the following quote by Maya Angelou in hopes that the words would inspire and lift their spirits. We hope it inspires you to lend a helping hand to Motherhood Beyond Bars because everything you do matters, and every act of kindness creates a ripple of love.

My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness. Continue to allow humor to lighten the burden of your tender heart. —Maya Angelou.

Recently, Motherhood Beyond Bars released To the Earth and Back, a sweet story about parents’ love for their children, even when they are apart. The book follows the journey of a mother astronaut who finds herself separated from her baby. With months remaining in her moon mission, the mother struggles to ensure that her baby knows she is loved and cherished. Based on interviews with former and current incarcerated mothers, this beautifully illustrated children’s book builds empathy, bolsters social, emotional learning, and warms the heart with a reassuring story of unconditional love. Find out more HERE.

Motherhood Beyond Bars is a nonprofit organization that breaks cycles of incarceration in families. MBB believes that every mother, child, and family deserves an opportunity to write a new script, transform the trajectory of their lives, and be supported by love and compassion in the process of that transformation. As noted on their website, the vision of Motherhood Beyond Bars is that “birth should be a time of transformation, not trauma. Every woman should have access to quality care and compassionate childbirth support. Every child born to an incarcerated woman deserves to be bonded from birth and supported by a community of care. Women moving beyond prison should be prepared to parent with confidence.” MBB provides direct aid, health education, and community support to infants born to incarcerated women, justice-involved and incarcerated pregnant women and mothers, and temporary caregivers of children with a mother in prison. Find out more about Motherhood Beyond Bars HERE.