I went to the Free Moms event last week at Harris Field and it was one of the most positive experiences I’ve ever had with an on-campus event. My mom started volunteering with them a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to visit her while she was there. In my pessimistic nature, I was expecting something that was not exactly cohesive with its purpose. The point of Free Moms was to give people on campus a place to go to feel that motherly love they wouldn’t necessarily have so far from home. I assumed that these women would pass out cookies, give people hugs, and then go home and pat themselves on the back for all the hard work they did that day.
I was so ridiculously wrong.
Once I got my cookie, I sat out on a bench with the intention of people watching and I was approached by some of the loveliest ladies that I have ever met in my life. One woman sat and talked with me for well over an hour and she truly listened to every word I was saying. It was almost overwhelming how supportive they all were it almost brought me to tears.
I might sound like an idiot for coming to this event at the very end of my senior year, but it was truly the greatest experience to have an abundance of moms affirming my life decisions and being proud of me. I had never met these women before in my life, but they were proud of me and that meant more to me than I thought it would. They are fulfilling their purpose by truly caring about student’s mental health in a way that is oh-so difficult to find on campus.
If you are like me and think that Free Moms is just for the free food, then please go and try it out for yourself–it might mean more than you think.
(Free Moms is at Wolf Plaza starting at 12:30 pm every Thursday)