Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
May 1, 2002
Nonprofit organization helps low-income mothers keep on rockin'
`Mommy Rocks' donates rocking chairs to nurture bonding between mom and baby
By Patrick Dorn
Some people only dream of starting up a not-for-profit company and making a difference in people's lives. Entrepreneur Deb Oletski has taken an actual dream and made it a reality. On Mother's Day, her start-up company Mommy Rocks will distribute its first three refurbished rocking chairs to low-income mothers with infants.
"It really was a vision from God," said Oletski, a long-time member of St. Jude's Catholic Church in Lakewood. "I woke up one morning at 3 a.m. with everything: the mission statement, the plan of what I wanted to do, and how I needed to proceed. I wrote it all down, and the next morning I got up and started working on it."
That was last December. In less than five months, Mommy Rocks has become a registered 501c3 nonprofit organization under the umbrella of The Colorado Nonprofit Development Center, qualifying for tax-exempt status and tax-deductible donations. Oletski has assembled a team of volunteers to help acquire, stain and decorate the rocking chairs, and begun to develop a network of service organizations and agencies to help identify at-risk young mothers who could use a rocking chair to help them bond with their babies.
"Mommy Rocks is a perfect example of the kind of group we want to work with," Melinda Higgs, executive director of The Colorado Nonprofit Development Center, said. "It's a simple idea with a lot of potential to impact people's lives."
The center shares its tax-exempt status and assists 35 start-up organizations.
"We help provide the infrastructure for entrepreneurial people who have a passion for a cause so that they can be free to realize their dreams," Higgs said.
Oletski's passion for rocking chairs comes from an appreciation of the cherished, nurturing and central role this piece of furniture can play in the life of a family.
"A rocking chair is a soothing place where a mother and her baby can go and be warm and cozy together," Oletski says. "It's a place that's peaceful, especially when things get stressful. A low-income mother may not have a house of her own to live in, or even any other furniture, but a Mommy Rocks rocking chair is something that hopefully she will be able to take with her wherever she goes."
Finding the right name for the organization actually triggered the whole enterprise. Oletski, who works full time for the Mile High chapter of Girl Scouts was asked by co-worker Paula Kennedy to brainstorm a name for a new scouting program.
"I told Deb to go sleep and come up with a name for me, and she came up with this project instead," Kennedy said.
Kennedy, who received a degree in fine arts from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., is a volunteer for Mommy Rocks, painting angels and other decorations on the rocking chairs after work and on weekends.
"The first one I painted was an angel of color," Kennedy said. "Hopefully a woman of color will get it. As we do more chairs, we'll have angels of all shapes and sizes. It's a fun project, and it is very exciting that something I painted is going to be in a mother's home," she said.
Each chair is signed and numbered by the artist.
Before the chairs can be painted, they must be repaired and refinished. That task falls to volunteer Craig Sanders, a parishioner at Christ on the Mountain Catholic Church in Lakewood.
"I've always liked woodworking," Sanders said. "Even though I don't build the chairs, it's important to take something that is unfinished, and get it to a point where it's worthy to be painted and given to someone."
Sanders spends approximately three hours staining each chair by hand. He hopes that as the nonprofit organization develops, they can gain access to a "strip and dip" vat, and obtain a sprayer.
Currently, eight rocking chairs are in various stages of completion. Oletski hopes to produce at least 24 Mommy Rocks chairs in their first year, and to eventually have space in a storefront, so the mothers can come and select the rocking chair that best suits them.
The mothers also receive a tote bag containing a receiving blanket, burp pad, books to read to their babies, a CD or cassette of music for the child, and a flashlight.
"Being in the dark is not a good thing, and a flashlight gives a sense of security," Oletski said.
The rocking chairs are not for sale, and Oletski does not work directly with the recipients. Churches, service organizations, agencies or clubs must refer a candidate, based on their own criteria for determining need. All Oletski asks is that the recipient be a low-income mother with a baby, so that the rocking chair might contribute to the mother's positive self-esteem and the emotional health of the child.
"Mommy Rocks promotes the idea that mom is somebody special," Oletski says. "Mommy does rock, and she can be a very positive influence on her child."
For information on volunteering, making donations or sponsoring a chair, contact Deb Oletski at 303-601-8421.
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