Milk of human kindness: Tokoroa mum who breastfed stranger's baby remembers not getting a feed every day

 A story from the Waikato Times by Sharmae Hope, November 8, 2021

Piripono Brown’s only gripe after offering her breast to a stranger’s hungry baby on the streets of Tokoroa is that the kind gesture did not go unnoticed.

The shy mother of three, originally from Hamilton, has admitted to being the woman who helped out a woman recovering from drug addiction, who was sitting distressed outside Tainui Superette last week.

Susan Johnson was unable to produce her own milk and had run out of money to buy baby formula due to her husband starting a new job and her application for a benefit still being processed.

Brown, who has had her own struggles, told Stuff she did not think twice about “giving the baby the boob” and would do it again.

Piripono Brown breastfed a distressed mother’s baby last week outside Tainui Dairy in Tokoroa. 

She is pictured with her own baby, Pounamu.

“I didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” Brown told Stuff while cradling her own 3-month-old baby.

“Baby was hungry right then and I had milk that would have gone to waste. I just wanted to feed her straight away instead of running off to get formula. It is all natural anyway.”

Growing up in a rough area of Fairfield, Brown can empathise with Johnson’s situation.

While substance addiction was not rife in her household, her mum became an alcoholic after her husband died.

She often remembers wondering when her family might get their next feed.

                            “Baby was hungry right then and I had milk that would have gone to waste,” said Piripono Brown, who has three children.

“My mum tried really hard to provide for us but it was expensive to feed eight kids.'’

Her mum often had to reach out to foodbanks or generous community members to keep the cupboards stocked, she said.

“I don’t remember having a bad upbringing but we didn’t get a feed every day.” 

Now, at 24 years old, she is really appreciative of what she has and is always willing to help others in need.

“My kids are happy and healthy and have a home, whereas there are others who don't have those things.

“I am definitely not rich but I am just fortunate enough to be able to help.”

The free feed and gifting of $200 worth of groceries to Johnson is not where Brown’s generosity ends either.

                                                             Piripono Brown has been keeping other families’ bellies full as well. 

Over the past month, Brown has bought groceries for more than 50 families in Tokoroa.

She set up a Facebook page called Tokoroa Free Kai and has been supplying weekly groceries to those in need.

As well as working part-time at First Security, she is studying He Papa Tikanga (Māori worldviews) online and completing a course in health and wellbeing.

She hopes to have a career in health one day.

“I don’t want anything in return. I just like to help and it makes me happy seeing others happy.”

                                                                 Piripono Brown’s son, Pounamu Brown, is 3 months old.

Here is a link to a short interview wih Piripono Brown and the full article.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/300449141/milk-of-human-kindness-tokoroa-mum-who-breastfed-strangers-baby-remembers-not-getting-a-feed-every-day

SHARNAE HOPE • WAIKATO REPORTER
sharnae.hope@stuff.co.nz

COVID_19: A MESSAGE FROM PEN GREEN IN CORBY ENGLAND

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We have continued to open the Centre every day and offered a reduced service to families following government guidance.  Staff have worked on a rota basis and if not in work have worked from home.    Staff have worked tirelessly to support children and families in the best way possible.

What have we done differently?:

•          Setting up the Pen Green Pantry and Kingswood Kitchen to support families who are struggling financially, this allows us to receive food donations and enables staff to distribute food parcels to families in need.

•          Taking food parcels to families homes.

•          Dropping off resource packs, games and books to children’s homes for families to do together.

•          Keeping in contact with children and families through Skype calling and facetime.  For some families (dad’s) this has improved communication.

•          Some parents have asked for a daily phone call, staff are offering emotional support as well as practical ideas for families to do during lockdown.

•          Our on-line platform for sharing children’s learning has been used more frequently by families, sharing video, photographs, observations, learning stories.

•          Staff regularly post ideas and challenges on tapestry (online journal) for families to engage in.

•          We have offered virtual groups for children with special educational needs, this has been supported by centre staff and a music therapist.

•          We have set up regular virtual check-ins for staff to allow them to keep connected with one another.

•          This has been a very challenging time for everyone and we have had to try to find different ways of working that keeps everyone safe.

•          We have continued to offer staff monthly supervision sessions (1:1) with their supervisor this has been done virtually.

•          We have used social media including Facebook and our website to post ideas, staff telling stories, children’s yoga, baking sessions etc. for families to do with their young children at home.

•          We have posted lots of information about safeguarding online to remind parents how to keep their children safe including information about online safety.

•          Our government have continued to pay the Early Years funding for our 2, 3 and 4 year olds, however a real challenge has been the additional income that we generate through selling hours to families.  The lockdown has meant a loss of £19k per month during this time.

Angela Prodger & Tracy Gallagher

Joint Heads of Centre

Our vision is to inspire, challenge and innovate to improve outcomes for all children but specifically the most vulnerable children and their families.

We provide training courses, leadership and research opportunities and bespoke school to school support in all aspects of early years work.

History

The Pen Green Centre was set up as part of a substantive under-fives initiative and is housed in a 1930s former comprehensive school. At the Centre we offer high quality education and care for children and their families. We also offer information and support services for parents through home visiting, group work, health interventions, adult education and training as well as the professional development, training and dissemination of good practice though the Research, Development and Training Base, and the Teaching School. The principle functions of the Centre have remained constant over the last 37 years although we have significantly developed the accommodation. We have maintained our principles of operation; withstood radical changes in local and national government; responded creatively to new legislation and to major demographic changes, and influenced national government policy in early years.

“In every small community there should be a service for children and their families. This service should honour the needs of young children and celebrate their existence.  It should also support families, however they are constituted within the community”

COVID_19 SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: A MESSAGE FROM CATHERINE LEE

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"There are aways many times when we reflect on our philosophy and pedagogy and right now is one of those times.  This global pandemic has seen many of our children staying at home; many of our families working from home; many families becoming unemployed and some of our children continuing to play and learn at preschool each day.  

 This has been a provocation for me and my Educational Team to reflect on kindness, gratitude, connection, and staying true to our philosophy.  We have opened our hearts even more to our children and families to support them during this very challenging time.  And as we have found more ways to celebrate gratitude, we too have found more joy in teaching and sharing our lives with our children and families.  

 One of our acts of kindness was inspired by how the pandemic was impacting and restricting our children's and families' freedom to enjoy their neighbourhood.  In NSW, Australia, public playgrounds are closed and families are only allowed to move around their neighborhood to exercise. I became very aware that during the 2 weeks school holidays our gorgeous nature-filled outdoor learning environment would be empty of children.  So with careful planning, I invited 2 families a day to play and exercise in our playground.  This supported their connection to the preschool and provided our children and their families to have a morning or afternoon outside their homes, knowing they were safe and not breaking any rules. Our families have told us that this very simple act of kindness meant so much to them.

   

Although now my days are filled with more policy writing and implementing new procedures to ensure the safety of my team, children and their families, I am so privileged to be able to continue to teach each day.   This brings me great joy, especially during this time.  

Loris Malaguzzi's words are always in my heart - "Nothing without joy". 

Catherine Lee

Director/Nominated Supervisor and Early Childhood Teacher  

The Point Preschool

Oyster Bay, Sydney

Australia

Our vision is to continue the dream of the Oyster Bay parents who originally built the preschool to create a preschool that nurtures and values children and brings families and communities together. Proudly providing high quality, not-for-profit, community-based early childhood education since 1956.

We acknowledge the original custodians of this land, the Dharawal people and their language and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the community.

What does gratitude look like?

This morning when I got up and read my local paper I was overwhelmed by the beauty of one woman's story in our paper. This story was written in our paper by a Stuff Report Libby Wilson and was entitled "Coronavirus: Cancer treatment in Hamilton during Covid-19 lockdown like a 'holiday''. It was certainly a title that caught my attention.

I am sure this would not feel like a holiday to me. But this is the feeling of Metua Tangaro-Daniel-Malietoa who was to begin her radiation treatment during lockdown. She says this: 
"For me, as a grandmother of eight, and four adult children ... It's the first time I have actually just not cooked, or done any kind of housework. It's like, oh, wow, thank you Lord. It's a blessing," the Tokoroa woman said.

 Metua has four adult children and eight grandchildren, so it's a change to have no cooking or housework to do while she stays in the Cancer Society's Lions Lodge in Hamilton. She was full of praise for the place she was staying in, the people around her and the meals.

Each day she writes daily thank you notes on the back of her menu! As Libby Wilson writes the former social worker says she has never eaten or slept so much, but has fitted in some work for community organisations, and daily video calls with mokos. I want to wish Metua all the best for her life ahead. I have no doubt that it is filled with joy...  as Ivan Panin wrote:

For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to recieve it. 

Thank you Metua for bringing joy into my life today. Arohanui Wendy

Kindness from a distance

 We are so delighted to share this post from these Yeshiva University business students...

Kindness from a Distance is a movement started by four Yeshiva University business students, Maia Dori, Tali Goldman, Atara Rolnick, and Pamela Abraham in an effort to spread kindness and positivity during these difficult times filled with uncertainty and fear. This account was made with one goal in mind, to spread as much positivity and kindness during this time of isolation as possible. They wanted to spread positivity through doing small acts of kindness for others, in order to bring people closer together during this time when we are all apart.

A hashtag was started, #kindnessfromadistance, to allow people to share their acts of kindness with one another. Additionally, people can send their kind acts and be featured on the Instagram page. This helped inspire people to do other kind acts from a distance and gave them new ideas! This Instagram quickly blossomed into a kindness community filled with engaging dialogue among followers and cheerful daily stories filled with inspiring quotes. Please check us out on Instagram @kindnessfromadistance and send a picture of you doing an act of kindness if you would like to be featured on our page!

https://www.instagram.com/kindnessfromadistance/

Here are some ideas for kind acts you could do from a distance... 

 

 

 

 

Please check us out on Instagram @kindnessfromadistance and send a picture of you doing an act of kindness if you would like to be featured on our page!

We hope you will take time to contribute to this group, you could also use their hashtag on your instagram posts #kindnessfromadistance 

https://www.instagram.com/kindnessfromadistance/

It is important to give thanks for each day, there is so much research now into the power of gratitude. For example there is scientific evidence that by practising gratitude we can create some important biological changes, such as a decrease in cortisol and stress levels. Gratitude will boost our energy on so many levels and create a more positive and enthusiastic outlook on life.

Amit Amin has a blog and has written about ‘The 31 Benefits of Gratitude You Didn’t Know About: How Gratitude Can Change Your Life’…

He has developed this graphic listing all the benefits of gratitude that he compiled from the results of more than 40 research studies on gratitude. Check out his full blog 

http://happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/

20 Random Acts of Kindness

Stephanie Dowick writes in her book 'Everyday Kindness'...

"Kindness will build our resilience and positivity, as well as concern for ourselves and others. It will protect us against the self-doubt and self-pity that would otherwise sap our strength. It will radically enhance our connections with others and our awareness of our capacity to give generously - and repeat the benefits that come with this. Bring kindness into the bigger picture of our lives will wake up and utilize our powers to choose, and to choose wisely and well. It will make us much easier to like and to love.

Our acts of kindness toward other people also depend on our consciousness of choice, and a willingness to take charge of our attitudes and actions. Those acts of kindness demonstrate a life-changing awareness that other people matter."

Make a commitment now to embed 20 random acts of kindness in your life this month. Encourage the children in your setting to do this and make it visible in your documentation. Demonstrate to everyone around you that kindness is valued. If we privilege kindness your life and the lives of others around you will flourish. Take the initiative and create a kinder world. 

Kindness makes a difference

Kindness is a simple answer in a sometimes difficult and challenging world. I know that to be true. For a long time now it has been my mission to acknowledge and appreciate all people and to encourage others to do the same. When my granddaughter Skylar, was young and we’d go out, we had a contest called “Who can make the most people smile. “ And we continue it today. It makes for a wonderful glorious day. We will be walking in the supermarket and someone will be walking down the aisle with her head down. Skylar walks up to her and gives her a big smile. I watch her walk down the aisle, turn around and smile at Skylar again or perhaps smile at someone else. Kindness is a chain that pulls us all together. Anything that lifts another person is kindness. Every single act of kindness has a ripple effect. In 2002, my dad had a series of strokes and other illness. At that time, I was the facilitator for a large women’s networking organization. One day I asked the ladies if on a personal level they could send their positive energies my dad’s way and maybe go out and do something nice for someone, someone for whom they would not normally think to do something nice.

My dad has been doing nice things for all sorts of people for years, from the street crossing guard, to the waitress in a restaurant, to a friend’s mother. That same day, I made cookies for the janitor at the post office. When I gave him the cookies he actually looked a little embarrassed. “Why, Linda?” he asked. “Because I appreciate you!” I answered. “When I get here at 6am and it is still dark out and it is a little scary, I know you are inside and I feel safe. And when I first moved here and my post office box was always empty, you always cheered me on. And you keep this place spotless.” That evening his wife called me and said that he was overwhelmed. “No one even knows his name never mind bakes him cookies!  -

This story was posted by Linda Burhans on the Kindspring site on the 22 August 2015. To see more stories visit www.kindspring.org/story

Kindness is a simple answer in a sometimes difficult and challenging world. I know that to be true. For a long time now it has been my mission to acknowledge and appreciate all people and to encourage others to do the same. When my granddaughter Skylar, was young and we’d go out, we had a contest called “Who can make the most people smile. “ And we continue it today. It makes for a wonderful glorious day. We will be walking in the supermarket and someone will be walking down the aisle with her head down. Skylar walks up to her and gives her a big smile. I watch her walk down the aisle, turn around and smile at Skylar again or perhaps smile at someone else. Kindness is a chain that pulls us all together. Anything that lifts another person is kindness. Every single act of kindness has a ripple effect. In 2002, my dad had a series of strokes and other illness. At that time, I was the facilitator for a large women’s networking organization. One day I asked the ladies if on a personal level they could send their positive energies my dad’s way and maybe go out and do something nice for someone, someone for whom they would not normally think to do something nice. - See more at: http://www.kindspring.org/story/view.php?sid=92655#sthash.F2VpLQCr.dpuf

Kindness Makes a Difference

--by LindaBurhans, posted Aug 22, 2015 - See more at: http://www.kindspring.org/story/view.php?sid=92655#sthash.F2VpLQCr.dpuf

Kindness Makes a Difference

--by LindaBurhans, posted Aug 22, 2015 - See more at: http://www.kindspring.org/story/view.php?sid=92655#sthash.F2VpLQCr.dpuf

Kindness Makes a Difference

--by LindaBurhans, posted Aug 22, 2015 - See more at: http://www.kindspring.org/story/view.php?sid=92655#sthash.F2VpLQCr.dpuf