Pelotas City Hall

Mayor Paula Mascarenhas made the symbolic delivery of maternity bags to seven pregnant women this Wednesday (24) at the Central Market. Starting next week, the Social Assistance Reference Centers (Cras) will organize distribution to other mothers. There are a total of 596 kits donated by the State government to Pelotas, each with a bag, a blanket, two short jumpsuits, two long jumpsuits, two bodysuits, two culottes, a hooded jacket, four pairs of socks and a hooded towel .

Photos: Gustavo Vara

Paula assessed that preparing for the arrival of a baby requires a lot of emotional and financial investment, and that this was a gift for mothers, to make the moment easier. She recalled the Mãe Pelotense project, from the Department of Health (SMS), which inspired Mãe Gaúcha. The local initiative offers mothers a layette in exchange for prenatal care, to prevent premature births and baby deaths. The project, which lost strength with the Covid 19 pandemic, will now be resumed “with full force”, guarantees the mayor. “We want babies to be born healthy and go home as soon as possible,” she said. To the pregnant women present, she wished “a peaceful birth, may the babies bring you lots of love and good things”, she concluded.

Photos: Gustavo Vara

The Secretary of Social Assistance, Tiago Bündchen, who accompanied the mayor at the event, confirmed that from next week pregnant women can contact the Cras. To register, you must present your prenatal card, be part of the Single Registry and be at least 28 weeks old or have a newborn baby. Priority will be for mothers included in Bolsa Família or on the program list and for those covered by the Primeira Infância Melhor (PIM)/Criança Feliz (PCF) programs. “It is a kindness that the State government gives to mothers, through us,” said Bundchen. If all mothers included in these criteria are met and kits are still available, those with a shorter gestation period will be included, initially 27 weeks, then 26, and so on.

Photos: Gustavo Vara

Pregnant Karina Tavares went to the Market with her mother, Geovana Duarte, to get her kit. Mother of a five-year-old girl, she is expecting a boy. “I donated all of my daughter’s clothes when she outgrew them,” she said. Geovana explained that in the community and in the church, what doesn’t work for one person works for another, which is why clothes and toys are passed from one family to another. And the spirit of solidarity comes and goes: just as they donated items that their children and grandchildren no longer used, they have already received donations from others. “We collect everything we can and leave to buy at the end only what we can’t get”, said Karina.