Quadaisha Brown gave birth to a baby named Ronald about three weeks ago, but unlike most mothers, she didn’t head back “home.” She headed back to a shelter, operated by Win, where she lives with three children, one of a large number of mothers who greet Mother’s Day in shelters.
Brown on Tuesday, however, experienced Mother’s Day a little early in the form of a Mother’s Day Baby Shower with a wide range of items donated by Amazon, which partnered with Win to donate at one shelter in each borough.
“Any holiday is a hard day to be in shelter,” said Win CEO and President Christine Quinn, who has led that organization for a decade after serving as City Council speaker for eight years and in the Council for 12 years until 2012. “You’re in there because you’ve been evicted, you’re short on resources. You’re in a situation where you lost your housing and you’re in a real state of transition and at times chaos.”
Mothers in shelters said Mother’s Day matters, in particular, as a personal holiday focusing on an important part of their lives.
“It’s important to celebrate being a mom. It’s a very hard job,” said the mother of a three and four-year-old. “You have to show up every day, even when you’re tired, even when you’re scared, even when you’re sick.”
She stood near one child wearing a shirt saying “I’m not average” and another watching a YouTube video on an iPad. “He’s very independent,” she said. “He knows how to work it very well.”
While Christmas and some other holidays have long inspired donations, Mother’s Day only now is beginning to attract more donors.
Amazon picked up the tab for “newborn necessities,” including strollers, pack-and-plays, diapers, and other everyday items for mothers at a giveaway at a Manhattan shelter on Thursday with other donations city-wide to follow.
“The strollers, diapers and wipes, you can never have too much of those,” Brown said. “The baby pillow, the socks, everything they have. The playpens are helpful, a lot of resources that you would have to spend money on.”
Amazon already donates to Win, which operates 16 shelters and over 450 units of supportive housing, as well as other organizations, but this year added Mother’s Day.
“We actually do a lot of giveaways where we supply things at different points of the year,” said Angela Pinsky, head of community engagement for Amazon New York. “Back to school is a big one. Turkeys for Thanksgiving. The holiday toy drive. We wanted to do a larger-scale event around Mother’s Day.”
Amazon donates items from facilities such as fulfillment centers to Win and other groups. “Things that can’t be sold, because packaging was damaged,” Pinsky said. “If it’s still good, but we can’t sell it, we’ll donate it locally where possible.”
Giving back
While Amazon made donations, other companies are helping around this holiday. StubHub on Thursday at a Brooklyn shelter is giving away tickets to a New York Liberty game in June. A very different event is in the works for a Coney Island shelter on May 14.
“People will be there to do nails, makeup. We’ll have photographers to take pictures,” Quinn said. “One of the things we pride ourselves on is creating events that are hopeful and joyous.”
Mothers said events are a big plus at family shelters that can improve life, providing something to look forward to as well as entertainment and assistance.
“I like these events they do for kids and parents,” said a single mom in shelters since August with children ages three and four. “Recently, they did one for the Children’s Museum. All the kids came downstairs. They gave them toys, played games.”
Volunteers such as Rudy Cazare, owner of Cazar Logistics, an Amazon delivery service provider, donate time. Representatives of Assemblymember Eddie Gibbs also attended.
“We do a lot of community work,” Cazare said. “My ops manager and I volunteered our time to support the cause.”
No home for the holidays
While homelessness is a crisis, there is a big crisis within a crisis when it comes to mothers and children in shelters. Homeless for the holidays is a fact for many thousands of New Yorkers.
Win, the city’s largest provider of shelter and permanent supportive housing for homeless families, houses 7,000 people a night, including a staggering half who are children and 70% families with children.
“For families with children, it’s eviction and the affordability crisis,” Quinn added. “They’re not able to find apartments they can afford or sustain the rent, and domestic violence.”
More than 90% of homeless families in shelters are headed by single mothers and 80% of mothers in shelters have experienced domestic violence, she said. People are only allowed to stay in domestic violence shelters for 180 days, after which they can be transferred to other shelters.
“It’s overwhelming,” said one mother who was a victim of domestic violence. “I was comfortable at the first one, but I had to move for safety reasons.”
People on average stay about 11 months in Win shelters, where the average age of a child is five, and 8 percent have a second parent.
Each year, approximately 4,000 babies are born in New York City homeless shelters, and about 750 women become pregnant in shelters. In 2025, Win served 909 children under the age of 2, and 174 pregnant individuals entered a Win shelter.
Inflation
Inflation has impacted mothers and families who have one or more children and often no significant other to help. A mother, age 28, with a five-month-old and a baby nearly two years old, who moved to a shelter after living with her father, said any help matters.
“Little stuff,” she said. “It’s getting expensive, diapers and wipes.”
Brown said she was a tenant in a three-family Staten Island house for eight years, with help from housing vouchers, before finding herself in a shelter.
“Usually, I’m the household that all the children come to,” she said. “My children are well-behaved. I’m usually cooking for everybody’s children after church.”
A 28-year-old mother said she has simple plans for Mother’s Day. “Nothing,” she said. “I’m just going to sleep.”
Brown doesn’t simply look at herself as in a shelter, but “I look at myself as safe.” She plans to go to church and then a buffet on Mother’s Day.
“Mother’s Day is a happy day,” said the mother of a three and four-year-old. “I want to go to brunch. I hope I can get something together with my friends.”
She recently finished training as a security guard and hopes to be hired. Brown recently finished a culinary training program for Hot Bread Kitchen, a nonprofit.
“I’m looking forward to working in the culinary field,” Brown said. “They partner with a few restaurants.”
