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December 2004

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A solution: One step at a time
By Michael Nataro '06  

“Don’t strive to do great things,” said Mother Teresa once. “Strive to do small things with great love.” This quote from the foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, an order of nuns in Calcutta, India resonates in the head of Raquel Episcopio, a Villanova University sophomore. She is an active member of Villanovans for Life, the on-campus pro-life activist group that has more than 35 active members. For years, she said, she has been troubled by the concept of abortion in our society today and expressed the desire to try and convince women, who find themselves not ready to be a mother, to choose life for their babies. Episcopio wants to hold the movement, in which she loves, accountable for what they believe. She recognized that the pro-life movement of today is first to encourage women to keep their children instead of aborting them, but after the babies are born; organizations do little to help the mothers raise their children. Episcopio wants to change this.

   “A friend of mine was helping a young, single mother last year, who struggled with physical and mental abuse from the baby’s father.  She lived at home with her mother and struggled to pay the rent,” said Episcopio, a Brooklyn native. “I helped by buying baby clothes, diapers, wipes, baby food and gave her some spending money that had been donated by my stepfather’s business. I thought that these few items would go a long way for this mother, and so I thought, ‘why stop there?’ ”  This moment was the beginning of a new group on campus, the Mother-A-Month Association, shortened simply to MAMA, loosely affiliated with Villanovans for Life.

   October was the official beginning of MAMA. About 10 students met in the Center for Peace and Justice Education on Monday evenings. The meetings consisted of planning fundraising events to aid one single, struggling mother per month.  The organization set its goal to give the selected mother at least $50 in spending money and use the remainder of the funds to buy items she requested for baby clothing, diapers and other needs.

   During the month of November, the group helped Eva, an 18-year-old mother with Janie, her nine-month-old daughter. They were able to give her $100 in spending money, baby clothing, medicine, diapers and baby books for Janie. In December, MAMA took on two mothers; Leigh, 40, with baby Sarah, 9 months; and D’Ann, 30, and her son D’Mar, 1 ½.  Episcopio is in contact with Amnion Crisis Pregnancy Center from whom she receives the women and babies’ names, as well as their clothing sizes and any specific needs they might have.

     Mike Seibert, president of Villanovans for Life says he is very pleased with Episcopio’s work. “I think Raquel has done a really great job in helping mothers in need. It's a great reminder to VFL that if we want to end abortion we need to make it unnecessary. This means helping mothers in need. The fact that we even know the names of the mothers MAMA is helping puts it on a personal human level.”

    Episcopio says that her new group is one way to bridge the chasm between the two sides of this very heated issue.   

   “Whether you are pro-life or not, most people admit that single mothers need help and are very willing to devote their time and effort in providing them some with relief,” Episcopio said. “Most importantly, I think pro-life M.A.M.A members are sending the message that the mission of pro-lifers is not to tell women how to lead their lives, but rather to provide women with better choices and a helping hand. I think it is a breakthrough to be able to find common ground for people with different perspectives on the same issue.” 

(For more information on helping needy mothers, please visit Amnion’s web site at www.amnion.com . To find out more information about MAMA, please visit www.prolife.villanova.edu)