MOMS chapter offers help and socialization opportunity

When Jessica Lindsey moved to Virginia Beach four years ago, she didn't know anyone.

Now Lindsey and her sons - Thomas, 4, and Sam, 2, have lots of friends.

Lindsey, 36, found the local chapter of MOMS, or Moms Offering Moms Support Club of Virginia Beach -West, about three years ago. It serves Zip codes 23462, 23463 and 23464.

"This allows you to meet people who could literally be right down the street or five miles away," said Lindsey, chapter president.

An international organization, the Moms Club was founded by a stay-at-home mother in California in 1983.

The local chapter, which has 55 members on the roster, meets on the first Tuesday of each month in the fellowship hall of Emmanuel Episcopal Church.

This month, the club will hold an open house for prospective members, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. April 29 at City View Park.

Club members come from different economic and educational backgrounds and have children ranging from newborn through school age, Lindsey said.

The club offers speakers, weekly play groups, parties, moms' mornings out and moms' nights out, baby-sitting co-ops, community outings, service projects. But the focus is socialization and support.

"It can be really lonely to be home with your children," said Jill Sunderland, 31, of Kempsville.

Sunderland, mother of Thomas, 2, joined the MOMS Club a little more than a year ago.

This month, 15 members attended the general meeting, which highlighted the "Going Green" theme. Andrea Katolin listened as Ruby Arredondo, coordinator with the Virginia Beach Clean Community Commission, shared environmentally sound ideas. Katolin's 6-month-old daughter, Elyse, was all smiles on her mother's lap.

Katolin, 28, said she joined the club about two months ago because she wanted to meet other new stay-at-home mothers.

Anna Simon, who moved here from Poland a little more than two years ago, said she appreciates the play groups, which are broken down by age, for her daughter, Savannah, 2. Simon also is happy to interact and learn from other mothers in the group.

During the meeting, many of the children were down the hall in the nursery, while some stayed with their mothers. Lindsey said it's up to the mothers to decide. They can also decide which activities they want to participate in.

"You can do everything or just one thing," she said. "We're all moms and the MOMS Club is definitely all about moms supporting other moms."

"I wished I'd found the club even sooner than I did," she said.

Sandra J. Pennecke, pennecke@cox.net