Georg'ann Cattelona - Thrive by 5 Giving Day

For a long time, I ran Bloomington Area Birth Services. And, I had a friend who over the years would ask me, “aren’t you going to move on from pregnant women and babies? You know as your son gets older, won’t you get interested in working with older children? Won’t you want to do something different?”

And you know, I never did feel a pull to work beyond pregnancy, birth, and the early years of parenting.  There is a simple reason: I remain convinced that it is the best and easiest time to have a positive life-long impact on the well-being of individuals and families.

When I reflect on what’s behind that conviction, I know that I can draw on mountains of research that support how brains, bodies, and emotions are shaped in pregnancy and infancy. Not only that, but I can also point to how pregnancy, postpartum, and lactation have lasting effects on women too.

But there is a more personal reason, as well. I was positively affected by a safe, stable, nurturing relationship in my infancy, someone other than my mother who gave me unconditional love and helped me to feel that I had the right to be seen and heard. I know that without her, I would have had a very different childhood, one that I can only imagine would have made it a lot harder to grow into a thriving adulthood. This woman’s name was Annie Allen, and it is to honor her memory and all that she did for me in my childhood, that I created this fund.

The Annie Allen Fund for Thriving Parents, Babies, and Toddlers is dedicated to helping non-profits in Bloomington and Monroe County provided support and educational services that can make a positive difference at the time that will have the greatest impact: from pregnancy to three. I hope that you will help our community invest in the future by participating in this year’s Thrive By Five Giving Day and donate to the Annie Allen Fund.

About the Thrive by  Five Campaign:
Funding will be used to increase access to high-quality education for at-risk children and low-income families, improve quality of programs, cultivate family engagement and community partnerships, develop training opportunities for educators, and provide required community matching funds for On My Way Pre-K students. Learn more about the Thrive by Five Campaign.