Janie Busbee started Mother to Mother in 2004 to help distribute essential items for babies and children to low-income families. Throughout the years, she has been able to take a small operation that she ran out of her house and turn it into a huge organization that helps hundreds of mothers and children in the Nashville community. Her dream for this organization started before she even had children herself. With the help of multiple partnerships and the growing support of the community, Janie has watched her hard work pay off by changing countless lives and having the ability to give a helping hand. Janie sat down with us to tell us a little more about Mother to Mother. 

Could you explain a little bit about what Mother to Mother is?

We have 219 partner agencies in the Nashville area that can put in requests. Children’s Hospital will email that they have four kids going home today and two don’t have car seats. So, we’ll pull the car seats, and they’ll run by our warehouse and pick them up. All day, we have those agencies picking up, and then, we have people coming in [and] dropping off their gently used items, as well. It’s a constant in and out. Four or five years ago, we got offered a bus and a van. Now, we have two more vehicles, and we take them and do outreach.

Last week, we went to Sparta and some other rural areas that really have no access to social services. When we do stuff like that, it’s like a ticker tape parade. We do car seats, pack ‘n’ plays, diapers, clothes, everything babies and children need. We do a huge back-to-school backpack drive. We got 2,000 last year, and I stuffed them with spirals, pens, compasses and all the things for low-income moms that can’t do that for their children. We have something like a Babies R Us; it’s just free.

What kinds of initiatives are you taking in order to gain all of that support that you are getting?

The hardest thing is getting all the stuff in. Diapers are like gold. If you go to Walgreens, they’re almost quadruple what going to Sam’s or Costco is to buy a big [package]. It’s like we’re just continually punishing the poor. They have to pay more because they can’t afford to buy them in bulk. It’s also illegal to launder cloth diapers in public laundromats. So, if you [live] in our housing projects, you don’t have a washing machine. We fill a huge need with that. We’re constantly fundraising. Places do diaper drives to keep the flow of diapers coming in because I give them out so quickly. And last week, we probably gave out 150 car seats and 200 pack ‘n’ plays.

Our three biggest needs are diapers, car seats and pack ‘n’ plays. Obviously, car seats are a law. People get pulled over, and a ticket ruins their whole budget for the month. Tennessee is also awful in infant mortality, so pack ‘n’ plays [make a difference]. It’s just a matter of getting the word out and really letting everybody know how desperate some of these people are.

[There is] tons of support when there’s a tornado or accidents. But my people have a tornado every day. We try to take a little of the edge off and help them at least have the supplies to keep their baby safe, clean and warm. We do coat drives in the winter. We do Adopt-a-Family [during] the holidays. Stores do Mother’s Day events for us. One of my board members owns a health care/skin care line that’s all natural. She made soaps with wild flowers on top, and we get 50 percent of the proceeds. Day cares let us bring our bins and leave them, and they’ll ask all the moms to bring in their stuff. It’s a full-time job, just keeping all of the donations coming.

Corporate donations are huge for us. Baby2Baby is a charity in LA, and they send us 20 pallets of diapers a year. Through them, Jessica Alba sends us Honest diapers, cleaning supplies and different items. Old Navy has been amazing to us. When Kristin Cavallari started Little James, she decided she wanted to help a children’s charity and realized she could make more of an impact if she only helped one. So, we are the sole charity in the United States for Kristin Cavallari. Then, with Uncommon James, for holidays or Mother’s Day, she’ll donate necklaces give to moms, social workers, nurses and everybody who helps us through the year. That’s very nice.

So, tell me a little bit about your background. Since you didn’t have children, why did this appeal to you?

Looking back at my Junior League placements and all my community service, I didn’t consciously do it, but I never did anything for men; it was always women and children. When I was in Boston, I volunteered at a women’s shelter. One night, a mom came in with a little 5-year-old boy. When I went to the shelter the next day to volunteer, we had sent him to school with the only backpack we had, which was a Cinderella backpack. I said, “Y’all, we can do better.” The poor boy has his whole life uprooted, spends the night in a shelter, and we send him to school with a Cinderella backpack.So, I started some programs at the women’s shelter in Boston. We had amazing programs for the women, but a lot of times, they brought their children with them. So I started some programs there for the children that were coming into the shelter.

Then, when we moved here, I told my husband, “Honey, I’m gonna start a charity to help children.” He literally said, “That’s the worst idea you’ve ever had. I don’t know one person in Tennessee.” I knew I was very friendly, so I would meet people when I [got here]. I just had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even know what babies need. I had never had a child. So, I just started meeting with the hospitals and figuring it out. And then, it just gradually got bigger and bigger and bigger.

What kind of impact have you already seen on the community as a result of your organization?

A ton. One girl was thinking about terminating her pregnancy. She lived homeless in a van and was on meth. We got her in rehab, got her off drugs, got her a job, an apartment and a car. She didn’t have a nursery, but we gave her enough that she was comfortable having the baby and bringing him home. ... So, it’s everything from taking the stress off of the mom, because we spend the money on the diapers and supply them. Maybe then, she can pay her rent or keep the lights on or little things like that. Helping in small ways can change the trajectory of her future.

I think the bad thing that people think is they just don’t want to work. We help so many moms. There is a mom that lives in East Nashville. She had a job and two kids, and then, her third son had a liver disease that he was born with. He couldn’t leave the hospital until he had a liver transplant. There was nothing that she was doing wrong. She had to quit her job. Then, she had no income and her whole world tumbled. So, when she was living in the hospital, she got referred to us. We went in, bought her groceries, paid her mortgage and just tried to let her survive. Her son had a transplant and is doing really well. She got a new job and is independent. She didn’t need us because she was lazy. She just had an episode.

Things happen in your life, and you just need a small window of support. We try to be there for tons of people’s lives. We could really change the trajectory of their future by coming in and doing little things.

You’re really doing some amazing, life-changing work. Do you have any long-term goals set in place?

My goal when I started Mother to Mother, naively, was to solve poverty. I give out millions of fish a week, but I want to teach somebody to fish so they don’t ever need me again. So, we are in discussions of how we [can] get better. Besides hiring everybody I ever meet, we are trying to figure out how we could do more to offer these women independence forever. Let them be able to support their children; that would be my utmost goal. I couldn’t help as many people in that way, but I could continue what I’m doing and also gradually start ending poverty forever for people.

In order to reach these goals and help you out along the way, how can the community get involved to help?

The easiest thing would be to go on our website and donate cash. We always need more support financially. I have little girls that do bake sales and raise $1,200. I have people doing diaper drives regularly and gear drives. Tons of Bible studies just ask everybody to bring diapers when they come. One of the Predators games was a diaper drive for me, and they raised $11,000 and around 90,000 diapers. We’re constantly raising money. So, either cash or gear. If every mom knew to give their stuff to us, we can get it right back out into the community. A lot of the big day cares let us leave our bins and tell all the moms to bring their stuff. So, even if there’s not always a drop-off spot, it at least gets them all to know that all year, we want your stuff.

Do you have any favorite experiences with Mother to Mother?

I think the best stories for me are the ones where I get to know the mom and really change the course of her life into a completely different trajectory. Those are the most rewarding things for me. The best events [are] when we get together in the community. When [Mother to Mother] was little and in my house, I would just drive around distributing. I met every mom I helped because I distributed it to them. For me, the best days are the days we take the bus out and I get to talk to the moms and watch them shop. The things we take for granted are so exciting to them. It gives some dignity to these people who have had tougher lives than some. My big thing is that we don’t all have the same opportunities in life, and so much of it depends on stuff outside of our control.

Photographs courtesy of Mother to Mother