Our Coalition is Growing

Growing healthfully is core to our mission. And for our organization, it’s good to see how the Maine State Breastfeeding Coalition is growing, too. Let’s review highlights of 2023.

• This past May, in Portland, we held our annual “Patchwork of Parenthood” storytelling event. This is a unique opportunity for people to share their stories and for audience members to gain a rich, realistic perspective of parenting efforts. Audience comments reflected this value:

·       “Hearing all the stories was just really wonderful. I enjoyed that many different perspectives/experiences were represented.”

·       “Once again I was moved by the vulnerability of the storytellers, and impressed by their abilities to share their stories in cohesive and thoughtful ways.”

·       “I connected most with the first storyteller's story. Having a variety of experiences that were shared over the course of the event allowed for many (if not all) moms or people connected to moms to recognize their own story in those being told on stage.”

·       “It exceeded my expectations!” 

The Storytelling event was a successful fundraiser, garnering $1600 for the coalition. It was also a successful Friend-Raiser. It increased awareness about our coalition and the reality of new parents' experiences. Our next storytelling event is being planned for May 11th, 2024. Save space on your calendar and plan to attend.

•  2023 marked an important change in the MSBC organizational structure. Kara Kaikini, previously the President of MSBC, became the organization’s first Executive Director. Creating this position increases the MSBC’s capacity for strategic planning, fundraising and community building, among other essential operational activities. This will enable us to do more than when we rely on limited (and very generous!) volunteer energy. This ensures our long-term sustainability. 

• The current board President, Petrichor Kneeland-Campbell, was invited this past summer to join a panel presentation at the United States Breastfeeding Coalition conference. This was in Bethesda, MD in June 2023. The title of the panel was ‘One Step At a Time: Transforming Organizational Culture to Advance DEI in the First Food Field.’ One topic that Petrichor highlighted was the MSBC’s inclusivity statement and how that statement necessarily came to be  revised. The presentation was very well received. The audience had great questions and Petrichor responded very thoughtfully and thoroughly. 

• The MSBC continued to work with the Maine Paid Family Leave Coalition . This was the year, finally in 2023, that the Paid Family Leave law in Maine was passed. The details of how this will work are still being crafted. Learn more about the next steps on the maine.gov website. Paid Family Leave benefits are slated to be available in Spring of 2026. We will keep the updates coming!

• As always, central to our mission is education. To that end, the MSBC presented six webinars for parents, the public, and professionals. All webinars can be found on our YouTube channel. Topics included:
Pasteurized Donor Milk Banking

Expressing Your Milk for Your Child at Work  (Family Leave Law)

Breastfeeding and Human Milk and the Microbiome  

Understanding Feeding Challenges in infants

What does DEIJB mean to me?

Breast Pumps - What’s Up Next? 

• With the goal to inspire, to educate and to dispel myths, we posted “Droplets of Wisdom” on Instagram and Facebook. Starting in August, for World Breastfeeding Week and National Breastfeeding Month, we posted brief facts about breastfeeding and lactation. Posts were made daily in August and twice monthly until the end of December. 

• We’re very proud to wrap up the year by presenting our “Returning to Work: Resources for  the Pumping & Breastfeeding/Chestfeeding Parent” toolkit.  Our Workplace Support Committee partnered with Let’s Go!, a program at MaineHealth Community Health. Together, we developed these resources for parents. Returning to work after having a baby is an important and challenging transition. Check out this toolkit, available on our website, and share it with everyone you know. We’re sure you will find this to be very helpful. 

All in all, when we look back on 2023 we feel encouraged for more progress in 2024. Join us in our continuing, and fruitful, efforts. Your donation of time and/or money helps us grow and sustain our progress. As we like to say “Every Drop Counts”. 

 Thank you for supporting our mission.
“When every baby receives human milk we will be a healthier Maine”