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Try A Little Tenderness
New nonprofit throws a lifeline to moms in crisis
From left, Jaycina Almond, founder of The Tender
Foundation, hands off a donation of diapers to
Riverdale resident Jahira Arias-Romo.
(Photo by Nicole Flernandez)
Emily Strongwater, a Tender Foundation board mem
ber, at home with her daughter, Archie.
(Photo by Piera Moore)
MlVl
The Tender Foundation founder Jaycina
Almond and her daughter, Syx.
(Photo by Emma Craft)
By Donna Williams Lewis
Jahira Arias-Romo was a single mother
with a five-month-old baby when she lost
her job at a trucking company in May due
to COVID-19 cuts.
“That was basically my entire financial
line at the moment,” she said. “That meant
I didn’t have any sort of income coming in.”
While the Riverdale resident worked on
getting public assistance, she was faced with
some urgent needs. Diapers topped the list.
Searching online for help, she ran
across The Tender Foundation, a group
that helps mothers shift from crisis mode
to stabilization with immediate “gap
assistance” and connection to long-term
resources.
To date, the fledgling Atlanta nonprofit
has helped keep 60 families in their homes
with rent assistance, paid 36 utility bills,
and given grocery store gift cards to 39
mothers.
It serves up aid with a hefty side of
tender loving care, starting with the
soothing tone of its website — part of
what the foundation calls its “safe and
compassionate space.”
Arias-Romo felt relief the moment she
logged on to the site.
“The first thing I saw was something
like ‘Do you need diapers and wipes?’ I was
like ‘Oh, thank God,”’ she said.
Within two days she met the
organization’s founder to pick up a month’s
supply of diapers for her daughter Paige,
bigger diapers for down the road, and more
diapers for a relative who was also in need.
The donation was a huge deal for Arias-
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Romo.
“It meant one less headache for me. It
was such a relief,” she said.
It also meant a lot to her that The
Tender Foundation’s founder, Jaycina
Almond, is a
mother, too. But
not only is she a
mom, Almond
understands
the financial
struggle. She’s
lived it herself.
It all began
with a
bassinet
Almond is a
full-time model
and single mom
who’s worked
internationally
and has 50,000
followers on
Instagram. But
just a few years
ago, her life was
very different.
When her
daughter, Syx,
was born in 2017, Almond was a struggling
21-year-old enrolled in the state’s health
insurance program for low-income pregnant
women.
She left DeKalb Medical Center with
more than her baby. She was given a
bassinet. She didn’t know who left it for her,
but the bassinet inspired her.
“I thought it was super intentional and
thoughtful,” she said.
Enamored with the pregnancy/
motherhood experience, Almond came up
with the idea of selling items for expectant
mothers through a subscription box service
called Tender. With every order, diapers and
wipes would be donated to a local mother.
FFer modeling career was taking off and
just as she was about to launch her business,
Tender began to take a turn.
She realized she didn’t care
about selling anything. “All I
really cared about was how I was
going to get those diapers and
wipes to our moms,” Almond
said.
While she was in New York
in September 2019 for Fashion
Week she chatted with a Lyft
driver who told her about an
organization she runs that
supports low-income moms in
Brooklyn with deliveries of car
seats and strollers.
Almond took that interaction
as a sign she was on the
right path. She restructured,
gathered a team of volunteers,
and launched The Tender
Foundation in January.
It takes a village
Almond currently does all of
the foundation’s intake, reading
about the mothers’ needs and
reassuring them that help is on
the way.
“It’s heavy work because
you wish you could change
everything for everybody, but there’s also
gratitude that ... we’re able to do the work,”
Almond said.
Emily Strongwater, a criminal defense
attorney who represents many indigent
defendants, was searching
for help for one of her
clients when she found
The Tender Foundation
online.
Grateful for the
nonprofit’s assistance, the
Midtown area resident
later participated in
the foundation’s “It
Takes A Village” family
and friends fundraiser
in August that netted
$35,000.
Since then,
Strongwater — who is
mom to Archer, a soon-
to-be 4-year-old girl who
prefers to go by “Archie”
— has joined The Tender
Foundation’s board of
directors.
“Personally, I really
struggled with the
transition to motherhood
and I had every resource available. I had
health care. I had my parents 20 minutes
away. I had paid maternity leave, and it was
still incredibly challenging,” Strongwater
said. “It changed my perspective on just
how much support mothers need.”
She calls Almond a “true believer,” who
deeply believes that the community can’t
thrive unless its mothers are thriving.
“There’s a lot of excitement right now
about politics changing, but I think what
we have to remember is that an election’s
not going to save us and politicians are
not going to save us,” Strongwater said.
“We really need to work together as a
community, and I think that’s Tender’s main
philosophy. We just happen to do that by
focusing on the moms.”
Learn more about this organization at
thetenderfoundation.com. I
12 December 2020 | ITT
AtlantalNtownPaper.com