Posted by Kate Weldon LeBlanc

Recently a group of employees from Liberty Mutual volunteered for an afternoon in the Center for Early Relationship Support. One way that Liberty Mutual is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year is with community service projects under the theme "Serve with Liberty." JF&CS was fortunate and grateful to be chosen as one of the sites.

We got the team of volunteers right to work arranging our baby clothes and formula donations, as well as thoroughly cleaning our Mother-Baby Room. They also brought some donations of clothes and diapers themselves, which was very thoughtful.

CERS continually receives generous donations of gently used or new clothing, but we cannot always keep up with sorting them by size and gender. However, when our closet is organized, it is much easier for our CERS staff and volunteers to find what they need for the vulnerable families we serve. Our new friends from Liberty Mutual tackled big bags of unsorted clothes, and soon had them neatly arranged on small pink and blue hangers. What may have seemed like simple (and hopefully fun) work for them has already made a big difference for us. The closet certainly looks better, but most importantly, their efforts mean that these items will get more quickly to the babies and children who need them.

Kate Weldon LeBlanc has been the administrative director of CERS since August of 2009. Kate is passionate about child and family issues, particularly on building communities of support for parents. Prior to her arrival at JF&CS, she spent nearly ten years working in the departments of Child Advocacy and Government Relations at Children's Hospital Boston. She holds a BSW from Skidmore College and a MPA from UMASS Boston.