JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A charity gave dozens of military members and their families a baby shower Sunday at the Timuquana Country Club.
32 military families had a joint baby shower. The room was full of soon-to-be parents and new parents who welcomed their bundles of joy into the world within the last three months.
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Nicholas and Savannah Trefethen are new parents to quadruplets who were born in August.
Nicholas is a petty officer second class in the Navy.
“Every appointment we were there,” Nicholas said. “Listening to the heartbeats just made me ecstatic every single time.”
“I try to give the advice that it is not as hard as you think,” Savannah said. “It is better once you get home.”
A charity called Operation Shower put the event on to make sure the families and their new additions have what they need. It is also a way just to make life a little easier.
Michael and Shaniya Natson are getting ready to have their first child, a son named Kase.
Michael is in the Marine Corps where he has served for two and half years. Shaniya is a registered nurse.
“I find this as an opportunity to mingle, meet friends, and to give each other advice if they need it,” Shaniya said.
“It is really hard being able to find a group of people as it is already. Especially when you are moving around and trying to maintain the military life right along with your partner.”
The baby shower came at the right time.
The Trefethens and Natsons both say they were concerned about the possibility of the government shutting down.
If that happened, Michael and Nicholas would have had to work without getting paid.
The new 45-day extension prevents that from happening, which gives relief to these new parents.
“It just relieved a lot of stress,” Michael said. “Now we can just focus on the baby, us, working, and just every day life, instead of having all of these extra stressors.”
“A lot of times, we are living paycheck to paycheck.,” Nicholas said.
“If the government would’ve shut down, we would not have known what to do,” Savannah said.
There were a lot of smiles, pictures and surprises at this baby shower.
There was a pretty cool moment that happened. The 32 families did not know they were going to all receive a travel system and stroller for their babies, a highchair, bassinet, towels and needs for a crib.
“For us, it is a moment just to thank them and to give them a day that they truly deserve,” said Lindsey Fletcher with Operation Shower. “For so many of them, they completely uproot their lives to move to a totally new community. It is all about giving to these moms who give up and sacrifice so much for our country. A lot of times their spouses are deployed. Sometimes they themselves are military service members.”
Operation Shower typically hosts between 18 to 20 baby showers a year in different military communities across the country.
Constellation Furyk and Friends along with PNC Bank partnered to make the baby shower possible.