Mentoring mothers at Nurture PA are a lifeline for new moms | KD Sunday Spotlight

From breakfast food to play time, and crayons to Sesame Street, every day is nonstop for mothers like Savanna Carpenter.

"There is no lazy," said Carpenter. Her success in parenting five children lies in her support system.

"Well, I keep my mentor in my back pocket and my therapist in my back pocket," she said with a laugh.

From her back pocket to the palm of her hand, she can text her mentor, whom she met through the nonprofit Nurture PA.

Carpenter described her mentor as empathetic.

"She's just going to understand," she described. "She's going to give me the best advice that she can, and that's all. No other strings attached."

There are no strings attached because it links moms with kids under five, with peer mentor moms anonymously, by only sharing their first name.

Through texting, Nurture PA provides someone dedicated to you who is objective. 

"Just the real hard stuff. It was just really nice not having someone who had a predetermined notion about me," said Carpenter.

The Nurture PA pairings provide mothers with someone to confide in, who's encouraging and has child-rearing advice, and can provide access to services.

"And she was able to put a name on it and help me find the resources to just help me through that time and process," explained Carpenter.

"There's nothing that replaces human wisdom and human compassion," Nurture PA's Executive Director, Susan Crookston, said.

It is a free service that's focused on protective factors that help mothers bond with children.

"So much of life is focused on the baby and what the baby is doing, but protecting the moms and helping reduce her stress, helping her learn things, because each child is so incredibly different," Crookston said.

Right now, Nurture PA has paired 61 mentors with 400 mom mentees.

"We're not meant to walk through this alone, we're not meant to parent alone," Crookston said.  

According to Crookston, communication via text over the last year, in 2025, resulted in 66,000 texts between mentors and mentees.

"People say that they feel more confident as a parent," she added. "They feel like they have less stress in their life."

Now, Carpenter has gone from mentee to mentor for other mothers. 

"I really love that because I was given that, and so to be able to turn right around and do that for somebody else, it's really become purposeful for me," said Carpenter.

She now shares words of support.

"You're like the best person for your child; nobody else can do what you do," she said. "Time does continue to go by, and we get better, and our kids get older. They get more independent, and you start to see how all those sacrifices that you made pay off."

It's mothers helping mothers anonymously who are making a difference for entire families.

Nurture PA is part of Allegheny County's "Hello Baby" program. Now the nonprofit is taking it to the next level, with professional leadership, and they want to expand its work across the country.

Crookston said they also hope to have gatherings in the future, collecting the moms in a group and the mentors at another gathering. 

For more information on Nurture PA, click here or scan the QR code below.