Donor Stories
After having my third baby, I was able to stock pile breast milk for when I returned to work. I started to run out of room in my freezer and deep freezer and I ended up storing milk in my mom’s freezer as well. Once I ran out of room in her freezer, I started thinking about ways to donate my milk. At the same time, a friend of mine had a premature baby born at only 27 weeks.
After witnessing my friend struggle to produce milk for her preemie, I started to do research about donating my excess milk. After continuing to witness my friend stress about her dwindling milk supply and after numerous efforts to increase her supply with no success, I decided to actually donate my milk. At first, the many required steps made me second think my decision, but when I thought of all the moms and babies I would be helping, it was a no brainer.
I would also be emptying my freezers to store food for my husband and growing boys. Several times my husband said he was going to throw some away my breast milk to make room for our food, but I wouldn’t let him! When I came across Helping Hands Milk Bank, I knew this was the milk bank for me because they donate $1 per ounce of breast milk to the Susan G Komen Foundation. My mom is a breast cancer survivor and this milk bank allows me to help another cause that is near and dear to my family. I have recently shipped out my 3rd cooler, which brings my total to 828 ounces donated to premature babies and $828 to Susan G Komen!