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Rachella Martina from the Rachella Martina Foundation and Youth Health Care representative Nelleke Berkenveld.
PHILIPSBURG–The Rachella Martina Foundation has donated a number of bags filled with goodies for babies to local foundations, which in turn will donate them to mothers to use for their babies.
The bags, called “J Bags,” contain baby clothes or products such as diapers, shower gel, lotion and something for babies to cuddle, amongst other things. “Every bag is unique so that nobody has the same products and/or clothes,” founder Rachella Martina told The Daily Herald. She has donated about 225 bags to the Health Ministry’s Youth Health Care Section and 25 to the White and Yellow Cross Care Foundation (WYCCF). The bags are expected to be passed on to mothers as of today, Monday, September 10.
Martina said last year after Hurricane Irma, she created a post on Facebook asking persons to donate baby clothes and products which she could in turn hand over to persons in need in St. Maarten. “The post was picked up by the Dutch media and it went viral. I received so many products from the Netherlands and Belgium, that I decided to start a foundation,” she said.
“A whole year we worked on the foundation and we created the name J Bag [a bag full with baby products and/or clothes – Ed.]. We came with that name because my son’s name is Jaroah, which means new moon/new beginning. And that was what we wanted to give the mothers in St. Maarten – a new beginning. Therefore, my two-year-old son created [with some help from his mom – Ed.] a little note for them [moms – Ed.] that we will put on the bags.”
Martina said the goal is to create larger bags and help continuously. “That means that we are coming back with new bags next year.” She is looking for sponsorships in the Netherlands to fill more J Bags for moms next year.
Asked why she waited an entire year to donate the many items received she said: “My dream has always been to help as many mothers, who are in need from the Caribbean, as I can. Hurricane Irma was, for me, the trigger to start doing it now instead of just talking about it. I think it helped me to overcome my fear that I couldn’t do it.
“I was teaching my clients to overcome their fear in business, but I was struggling with my own fear. Over the last year I did not think about my fear I only thought that I needed to put a smile on the faces of mothers when they receive a J Bag and that kept me going. And if you want to coordinate something this big you need the time to prepare it,” said Martina, who is an online business mindset coach by profession.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/80466-foundation-donates-250-bags-with-goodies-for-babies-to-local-groups
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