Mom’s House celebrates largest graduating class in its 30-year history
The Summit in downtown Toledo was filled with emotion.
TOLEDO, Ohio — June 27th marks 30 years of Mom’s House in our community, and Wednesday, they celebrated their largest graduating class in history.
“It’s not just the family that you’re born into, it’s the family that you create, as well. And I love everything about the family I’ve created here,” explained Maya Blosser, who, on Wednesday, graduated Mom’s House.
And that family of 16 came in all shapes and sizes, from mothers to fathers to sons and to daughters.
“Today is really one of my favorite days of the year. We get to celebrate the hard work, the perseverance, just the parenting and the growth of our young families — and it’s an honor to be able to share this moment with them,” said Christina Rodriguez, executive director of Mom’s House.
Rodriguez explains that Mom’s House has two overarching programs: its family wellness program (parent education, counseling, mentoring, legal services, and a dad’s program) — basically, the bulk of their programming. Then there’s the early childhood education program, which focuses on the socioemotional growth of children, as well as preparation for kindergarten.
“Every single kid in our program that graduated this year is kindergarten-ready — and we’re very proud of that statistic,” Rodriguez boasted.
There were many emotional moments throughout Wednesday’s ceremony, as parents reflected on the abundance of support they received, and how it helped to get them where they are today. As for Maya, that support helped her to land a new job.
“I will be finishing my bachelors of science in nursing; I’ll be graduating with that this December. And I just accepted a position as an adult psychiatric nurse,” Blosser said enthusiastically.
She says she doesn’t know if any more school lies ahead, but in the meantime, she’ll wait to cross that bridge until she gets there.
“If you want to do better for yourself and for your child, Mom’s House is definitely something you should check out,” she added.
Rodriguez notes that Mom’s House does accept monetary donations, on top of donations from those who’d generously like to contribute to fulfilling their wish list. Additional information can be found online at momshousetoledo.org.
