Contact Name: Lori Rappa
Contact Phone: (516) 520-2929 X103
Contact Email: LoriR@motherscenter.org

MOTHERS Take Back Mother’s Day

This year moms on Long Island are demanding more than flowers and candy. In a return to the activists roots of Mothers’ Day local moms have joined a new grassroots advocacy initiative called MOTHERS, an acronym for Mothers Ought To Have Equal Rights, and are speaking out about the unfair economic consequences of caring for their children.

They will be initiating actions in the community, including distributing information and talking to moms at local parks as well as hosting a “Mothers’ Day of Awareness” gathering on Thursday May 8th, 8PM at the East Rockaway Yacht Club in East Rockaway to raise awareness of the issues.

No one disputes the important role that mothers play in shaping the emotional and intellectual futures of their children. Yet in our society mothering is one of the least supported jobs around. Motherhood is the biggest risk factor for poverty in old age and a huge risk factor for poverty at any age. Family caregivers receive no pay for their work, and they are doubly penalized because they face a drastically reduced Social Security benefit for every year that they earn little or no income while raising children or nursing elderly or ill loved ones. Mothers are, in effect, penalized for taking care of their families and lack the social safety net that protects other workers.

To find out more about this grassroots movement contact Lori Rappa at (516) 520-2929 X103 or LoriR@motherscenter.org and visit our web site at www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org. Mother's Day should not be the only day our country supports it’s mothers. MOTHERS are on the move!