New Moms Group in Green Valley Ranch a Big Success!
By Cookie Steen
Part of our group on a tour of Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge. Kids were able to view Bald Eagles, Deer, Coyotes, and Hawks in their natural habitat and learn about the creatures from tour guide and wildlife officer Ed.
In 2005, a mother to be moved to the Green Valley Ranch Community like so many others. By the year 2009, this mother decided that she needed to do something to meet other moms and families within the community. The answer was Green Valley Ranch Moms on Meetup.com. The group, established in August of 2009 has taken off and become bigger than anyone thought it would.
Green Valley Ranch Moms (formerly Green Valley Ranch Stay At Home Moms) already boasts 43 mom members from the first round of advertising done in 2009, and 76 children with four more on the way (Congrats Moms To Be)! Moms in our group have anywhere from 1 to 5 children, and most children are in the 2-5 year old range. Green Valley Ranch Moms recently changed its name from Green Valley Ranch Stay At Home Moms because the new name more accurately describes the makeup of the group. The group can now support both working and stay at home moms, as well as self employed and part time working moms.
The primary purposes of the Green Valley Ranch Moms is to create a community of moms and kids for socializing, friendship, parenting support and community development. The group is an important part of community building within Green Valley Ranch, and provides parents with support in being the best possible parent and community member.
GVR Moms has hosted 130 events so far, and members have rated the group 4.5 out of 5 stars. Any member may schedule activities, or attend activities scheduled by other moms. This provides a wealth of variety for the children, mothers and families to enjoy. Activities are scheduled at all times, including weekday events that are kid-centric, along with evening and weekend events that are moms only, families, and kids events.
The group has a subgroup of baby play dates for the under 1 crowd, a book club, and girls nights out. Planned events for the summer include a trip to a farm, fruit picking, pony rides, beach visit, puppet theater, and a full scale neighborhood barbeque and block party. The group also hopes to get a “team” shirt for moms and kids this year. Charity work is being considered for this years calendar and will depend upon the time and project.
Moms in the group carpool for school pickup and events, and provide babysitting exchange for other moms in the group. They also provide each other with references for services, if a mom in the group needs advice or help with a particular subject, there is almost always someone who knows all about it to lend assistance. The group has really helped to build a sense of community within Green Valley Ranch for its members.
Complete with its own newsletter, mom of the month and sponsors, GVR Moms has become a true neighborhood happening!
For more information on the group, to join, or to sponsor GVR Moms, please visit www.meetup.com/GVRMOMSGROUP, or you can email the Organizer Cookie Steen directly at cookula@gmail.com.
