UICOMP Baby Shower Links New Parents, Young Families to Local Resources
The UICOMP Office of Graduate Medical Education hosted and organized a Community Baby Shower with 200+ adults and 100+ kids attending the event held at Neighborhood House in Peoria on September 21, 2024. The event was supported by a number of UICOMP departments, including Obstetrics/Gynecology, Family and Community Medicine, and Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine. The sponsors included Carle Health, Kumon of Peoria, iSTEAM studio, CEFCU, Venky Basam Home Team/Keller Williams Premier Realty and Neighborhood House. Kumon of Peoria also organized a book drive prior to the event, and more than 200 books were given away to the participants at the event. Hy-Vee and Sam's Club donated cakes for the event, and lunch was provided to all attendees.
More than 30 volunteers representing UICOMP students, faculty, residents, and staff as well as Bradley faculty and students supported the event. A special thanks is also extended to the South Asian Student Association Student Interest Group who led volunteer engagement.
The event focus is to address existing maternal and child disparities in our community through facilitating connections among community-based programs, social services, clinical services, and the community member participants. A total of 18 community organizations participated in the event as vendors to provide education and information on resources and support to the participants.
Attendees further benefitted from receiving resources and supplies to support the needs of new/expectant parents and families of young children (ages 1-5 years). Each registered participant received a give-away bag filled with baby care items, books, and various other items. In addition, a raffle of 60+ items offered such essentials as car seats, strollers, pack-and-play sets and multiple other baby care/childcare items with winners chosen by random drawing.
“The Community Baby Shower is an example of successful academic-community collaboration to address the community needs. This event shows that there is determination and will to support our community members in providing a healthy start to the young lives,” says event organizer Gauri Shevatekar, UICOMP teaching assistant professor, who organized the event. “The Community Baby Shower is only possible because of the generosity of the sponsors, vendors, donors, volunteers, and contributors for their support and commitment to serve.”