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Knowing that Ukrainians have fled for their lives, with some having to give birth underground as the Russian invasion into Ukraine continues to unfold, Emily Page—a mother herself—knew she needed to do something to help.
"As a mother, seeing all the women and children fleeing for their lives, hearing stories of women giving birth in the underground or in basements, it just horrified me," she told Newsweek. "It's terrifying. I couldn't just sit back and do nothing."
Page is based in Lincoln, England, and owns Mama's Milk, a business that sells breastfeeding accessories. She also offers free breastfeeding support and guidance.
"I wanted to do something useful to help women in need in Ukraine, so offering my support and donating some of my products seemed like the logical thing to do," she said.
As someone who works in lactation, one of Page's first thoughts after learning of the invasion was wondering if parents had formula, clean, safe water and how birthing women could feed their babies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian military to invade Ukraine early last Thursday, leading to outcry around the world from leaders and citizens. Newsweek reported that infants have been born in Ukrainian bomb shelters as the attacks carry on.
One mother gave birth in a metro station, as noted in a tweet published by Hanna Hopko, the former deputy head of Ukraine. Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko also shared two photos on Facebook of two infants that were born in a bomb shelter.
Page set up a way for those interested in contributing to her cause to purchase a product as a donation, and when a donation was made, she matched it.
"So for example 52 silicone breast pumps were donated by my followers and customers so I packaged up and sent 104," she explained.
In addition to breast pumps, Page has also donated reusable breast pads, breast milk collection shells and nipple shields to go toward those breastfeeding.
To get the word out about her intent to collect donations, Page reached out to her followers on her business' Instagram page, @mamas.milk. It didn't take long for people to want to help after seeing her first announcement.
"I set my donations up on the website and the first donation was made four minutes after I announced it on Instagram," she said.
Page partnered with Bridge to Unity, an organization that has also collected donations to go toward medical supplies that will be distributed at the Polish and Ukrainian border.
She said one of her followers informed her of what the organization was doing and she reached out to them to explain that she wanted to donate breastfeeding supplies. Since launching the initiative, Page said about £2509.50, or $3,323.18, worth of products were donated.
A representative with Bridge to Unity collected the products on March 1 and will travel to the Ukrainian and Polish border Saturday morning to distribute them.
The initiative proved to be successful, and Page had to put a temporary stop on donations because she ran out of stock while also needing to focus on packing the donations she already collected.
However, she said she has new stock coming in early next week and is already working with Bridge to Unity on a second trip.
Page said she was "blown away" and grateful for the support she received from other women—many of whom are mothers or soon-to-be mothers.
"Listening to stories of families being separated, children without their safe warm beds, babies being born into war, I think it brings out the 'lioness' in each of us and drives us to do as much as we can to help," she said.
About the writer
Catherine Ferris is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting for the U.S. Trends Team. She ... Read more