After working in the US hospital system for several years, the founding midwives of Willow Midwife Center for Birth and Wellness, decided they wanted to be the change they want to see in maternal care. In order to be the change, they left their hospital-based practice to start their own birthing center in Mesa, Arizona,
Belinda and Diane had a vision to provide any family who wanted the opportunity to birth gently, peacefully, and with evidence-based care at their birth center. They decided they wanted to start some kind of scholarship or endowment fund to make their center available to any family who wanted a birth center experience, regardless of their ability to pay out-of-pocket. After reflecting on their vision for a couple of weeks, their vision got bigger. They decided that if they were really dedicated to birth choice for women, they had to open up the ability to access the funds raised by Willow Wish to ANY family in the Phoenix-Metro area who was interested in birthing at an accredited birth center.
My name is Krystyna Bowman. I have been a childbirth educator and a doula in the Phoenix area since 2010. I share Belinda and Diane's passion to make an evidence-based birth experience accessible to all families that seek to have peaceful, empowered birth journeys in a birth center setting. It is my distinct honor and pleasure to be able to assist Belinda and Diane by making their vision a reality.
We will be fundraising with the goal of paying for one family to birth at the birth center of their choice on a monthly basis. This makes our yearly goal roughly $48,000 per year to pay for the births, plus any operating fees for the non-profit, mostly website and social media promotion in this day and age! We are also looking to host a gala in the long-run - it is our goal to make that a self-sustaining event paid for by sponsorships.
We are so excited to have you on this journey with us!! I will keep you updated and be sure to write another blog post when all our social media handles are live.