Creating Connections When and Where They’re Needed Most
By Kate Poss • Photos by Dave Meyer
The purpose of Mother Mentors of Whidbey Island becomes clear when two-year-old Orion greets his friend Betsy O’Neil. “CeCe!” he called out, his face lighting up while waiting with his mom Kelly Dungan on his front porch. O’Neil approached Orion, picked him up, and the blond, curly-headed toddler wrapped his arms around her. Soon afterwards, he asked his mom to lift the hood of the family car and pointed to various engine parts. He looked at ‘CeCe,’ who told him “radiator” and “battery.” These days, mechanical things interest him.
As a working midwife educator, Dungan, a single mom, is grateful for her two-year relationship with O’Neil. Looking for resources when Orion was a newborn, Dungan found Mother Mentors. Meeting with its program director who understood Dungan’s immediate needs, O’Neil was matched with Dungan within a week.
“For me, it was such a relief to see this person here purely for support,” recalled Dungan. “To speak to my overall experience, this is a mutually beneficial relationship. I’m getting so much out of it. He’s getting so much. It’s really nurturing everybody.”
