Looking out for the needs of every baby

A.C. woman forms group to provide for infants at risk

By MICHELLE LEE, Staff Writer Dec 24, 2009 Updated Jun 20, 2019 

ATLANTIC CITY - The first thing that catches one's eye in the Cape Bank conference room are the children's pictures attached to teddy bears. The children range from newborns to 3-year-olds, and each one has a sad story.

Bella was born with an addiction to methamphetamine. Raymond was separated from his family after his parents got arrested. Paul was abandoned in a high school bathroom.While the photos displayed at the Pacific Avenue bank are not of actual children in need, for confidentiality reasons, Robbin Bell said the biographies are from real-life families that she is trying to help through a new charitable group she started earlier this year called A HEART, or All Hearts Educating, Advocating, Restoring and Transforming. The group has been collecting baby clothing, diapers and other items at the bank to help four families from Atlantic, Cumberland and Salem counties, Bell said recently.Bell, an Atlantic City resident, is a former recruiter and trainer for the Court Appointed Special Advocates of Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties, an organization in which volunteers are appointed by judges to help abused or neglected children in foster care.Bell, who worked for CASA from January 2007 to March, said she "couldn't sleep at night" sometimes because of the stories she heard about family court disputes, and she decided to start A HEART to help teenage mothers, grandparents and other people struggling to raise babies because of hardships such as drugs, incarceration and mental health issues."

My life got in gear to do this ... listening to CASA family court (cases) gave me a rude awakening, and I heard too many grandparents show up and want to keep the family together and didn't have the resources," Bell said. "

It was heartbreaking."

The issue of helping at-risk children also touched Bell on a personal note; she previously founded Zelphy's day care and performing arts center in Millville and adopted two daughters through foster care.

Bell said she started the "grass-roots, faith-based" volunteer group in April and it has held five baby showers over the course of the year at In His Image Ministry in Pleasantville, St. James Bible Deliverance in Egg Harbor City, a Galloway house, New Hope Baptist Church in Atlantic City and Calvary Chapel in Vineland.

Her ultimate goal is to create an infant resource center and eventually open a special boutique and diaper bank where families in need can shop for baby and toddler necessities."

The important thing about this is we don't want anyone to think of this as a hand-out, but a hand-up," Bell said.  Darren Mitchell, the Cape Bank branch manager and assistant vice president, said the company is allowing A HEART to use their office space because they think it is a good cause that could help the community out. The group's mission to help at-risk infants "was just an amazing concept and a great fit for us," said Jeff Ropiecki, Cape Bank's vice president of marketing.

Some of the A HEART volunteer work has been a family affair. Bell's daughter, Zinia Hargrove, and sister-in-law, Ernestine Bell, have been helping out. The other volunteers are Rondell Showell, a minister at St. James Bible Deliverance; Risti Talbott, a CASA volunteer; and Cathy Gardner, a volunteer at Calvary Chapel.Eunice Mack, a member of Second Baptist Church who volunteers for prison ministry at the Atlantic County jail, said there is a strong need for A HEART's service. Mack, who is Showell's mother, said she referred two families to the group. In one case, the mother is in county jail and her baby is being raised by a family advocate in New York City, Mack said. The other family, which is connected to Second Baptist Church, is headed by a single mother with her fifth child on the way."

I think it's a great idea because there is so many single women who cannot afford the things they need once they have these babies, even before, the care (involved) or knowing to go to the doctor," Mack said of A HEART. "

I think Robbin's group will provide these things before and after so they can keep these babies and take care of them."

Posted by Press of Atlantic City - Read the Original Article