EAST BRUNSWICK– The MOMS Club of East Brunswick Area has created a space where stay-at-home and working mothers can come together for the past 12 years.
“We offer monthly meetings with topics of interest to mothers. We do playdates, seasonal activities, parties for the kids. We perform various service projects yearly in helping needy children, moms and the community,” club President Dovey Sawhney-Gill said.
The MOMS Club began in 1983, when Mary James, an at-home mother in California, decided she was tired of being alone at home. She wanted to meet other at-home mothers and she wanted to find other at-home children for her children to play with. When she discovered there were no other organizations that met during the day and allowed her to come with her baby and preschooler, she decided to start a brand new organization just for at-home mothers, according to Gill.
“The chapter [James] started was so successful, she knew mothers in other areas must be needing the MOMS Club, too. Soon she and other volunteers were helping mothers start MOMS Clubs across the country and around the world. We now have more than 1,500 chapters in the United States alone and more than 100,000 members in chapters throughout the world,” Gill said.
Gill said this February the club’s East Brunswick chapter celebrated its 12th anniversary.
The club holds two meetings with one in the morning and one in the evening, according to Gill.
“Our monthly calendar is full of various events. We have one monthly meeting and a lot of different events including: playdates, storytime events, local activities, moms night out, service projects, etc. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to plan the outings as well as host playdates,” Gill said.
Earlier this month, Gill said the club had a super fun dance party at Kaye-Lynn Dance Studio in the township. A mindfulness class for children was planned for April 20.
“In May, we will host our annual spring fling event. It’s a really fun event where we have balloon twisting, face painting, a dance party, raffle baskets, a prizes, potluck party and gifts for all the kids,” Gill said. “An informative Reiki session with a guest speaker [will be held] at our monthly meeting on May 8. We will also have storytime at Sunrise [Senior Living] with the residents on May 17, and many more events.”
Gill said when she took over the president’s position in 2015, the club had about 21 members. Today, the club has more than 50 members.
“After my son’s birth, I became a stay-at-home mom. I was always looking for play dates and fun activities for my son. I would teach him all the basic learning stuff like rhymes, numbers, ABCs, but needed some socialization. MOMS Club seemed like a perfect match,” she said.
When she joined in 2013, Gill said she took an active role by becoming the party planner and by the second year, she was the administrative vice president.
“I try to implement new things and just want to make it easy for all the moms who are looking for interaction and playdates for their kids to find us easily. We just rolled out Google Pay so moms have an easier way to pay their dues,” Gill said.
