Student-veterans create resource fair for local parents

When Shanon Morris, a master's student in hospitality management, learned she was pregnant with her second child, her excitement quickly turned to exhaustion. She'd only been in Ithaca for a month, and her search for local resources led her through a labyrinth of Facebook groups overrun with ads and spreadsheets of unvetted babysitters.

"When we started to look for resources for our family, they weren't there, they were extremely hard to find or too expensive," Morris said.

This experience inspired Morris and her partner, both military veterans, to organize a family resources fair on March 21 at Ithaca's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 961, which distributed $62,000 in free supplies to 180 local families. The event was organized by the Cornell Graduate Student Veterans Association and sponsored by the American Legion Post 221, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 961 and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly.

"We thought to get parents together in person," said MBA student Matthew Morris, Shanon Morris' partner. "Not for a marketing-type event where things are pushed on you, but to meet a real need with free supplies and putting providers in front of families so they have a one-stop shop."

Since 2023, Shanon Morris has professionally consulted with young families and hospitality brands on babymoons, business travel while pregnant and postpartum travel. Matthew Morris wrote "The Partner's Purpose During Pregnancy." If they couldn't find local family resources, how could the average person do it?

"I'm new over here and I have a job to do as well," said attendee Asmita Gautam, a new parent originally from Nepal and Cornell postdoctoral researcher in animal science. "I didn't know about anything like swim classes for my kid or postpartum groups I would need in the future. Looking for those would have been a hard time. But there was a booth where they were talking about postpartum challenges, and I thought it was good to know."

Within eight weeks, the Morrisses assembled more than 80 contributors for the fair, including midwives, vaccine educators, lactation consultants and counselors. They distributed an arsenal of baby supplies - Parasol Co. donated $23,000 worth of diapers and Beech-Nut contributed 1,200 pounds of baby food to the event.

As veterans, Shanon and Matthew Morris initially conceptualized a diaper drive for the veteran community, but the event soon expanded to include broader resources for all local parents, no Cornell or military affiliation needed.

"Shanon has been at the helm of this, just like she was at the helm of the Navy ships she used to command. We've gone so far beyond our original plan," Matthew Morris said. "We live in the Hasbrouck community for grad students, and 90% of the folks have children. We were looking at our neighbors and thinking they could benefit from some free diapers too."

The couple also invited local women's health startups to attend the event, including the Cornell eLab startup PartumCare Now, a health care marketplace designed to address accessibility challenges in postpartum care. The founder, MBA student Carmyn Polk, was inspired to build her platform after her personal encounter with postpartum health care.

"I had an unexpected C-section which left me vulnerable. It was too hard to find a lactation consultant when I needed it badly or figure out who my pelvic work therapist could be," Polk said.

Baby Brigade also provided something no online group or spreadsheet can offer: the opportunity to connect with other parents in person.

"There is a level of secret parent knowledge that you can only get through meeting people, but sometimes, you don't know where to go," said Madison Austic, a local stay-at-home mom who attended the fair. "I think there's loneliness, too. If you're not seeing people with kids who have the same struggles as you, you can get sucked into neurotic Facebook groups playing constant comparison games. But if you're spending time in real life with people, it's less of a comparison and more like you're working together."

The Cornell Graduate Student Veterans Association plans to continue hosting different community impact events.

"In military service, the entire country is what you're serving," Shanon Morris said. "Coming into the Nolan School, the ethos felt similar to me. In one of my first classes they told me, 'This is the service industry, we're here to serve people.' That shared goal has brought together different campus and community groups around this event."

Additional support was provided by the Cornell Tri-Service Brigade, the Tompkins County Department of Veterans Services, the Cornell Johnson Community Impact Club, the Cornell Johnson Student Budget Committee and the Cornell Johnson Student Activities and Special Events team.

Nina Collavo is a writer for the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.