I met Holly Pavlika in Twitterland last year. Then she asked to interview me in the fall. I recently heard from Holly again, asking me to be a part of something huge.  Something that could truly make a difference for all mothers around the world.

Did you know approximately $14.6 billion* was spent on Mother’s Day presents last year in the U.S. alone?

According to a study the National Retail Federation conducted last year, Americans spent billions at restaurants and on clothing, jewelry and flowers. Where did that money go? $1.9 billion went to flowers. $2.9 billion was spent on Mom’s favorite food. Another $2.5 billion on jewelry. The remainder went to clothing or clothing accessories ($1.3 billion), gift certificates ($1.5 billion), personal services such as spa treatments ($933 million), consumer electronics ($906 million) and greeting cards ($671 million).

And Holly thought, what if 1% of that $14.6 billion dollars could be given to a cause?

What if moms got together and said “Instead of a big gift, buy me a smaller present and donate the difference to a cause.”  If 1% of $14.6 billion was given—over $140 million dollars—just think about all the good we could do.

From this thought, began a collaboration and initiative of 12 very connected moms (click here to meet the moms). First we started a closed Facebook group to ideate. Within 48 hours we had outlined the plan, generated a short list of charities, named our effort “Moms4Moms” and picked EveryMotherCounts.org as the final charity. Every Mother Counts is an organization Christy Turlington started after her own home birth went awry. She has spent the past two years creating a documentary about maternal health around the world. And the documentary will air on the Oprah Winfrey Network on May 7th at 9:30–11 p.m. (ET/PT).

Watch the trailer here:

Pregnant women are dying all over the world, but for different reasons. In the United States, it is often because of lack of health insurance. In Bangledesh, culture demands women give birth at home.  In parts of Africa, it is lack of transportation or communication tools like cell phones.

Just look at these statistics:

  • There is one maternal death every 90 seconds.
  • 15% of all pregnancies result in complications during labor and delivery and sometimes are fatal.
  • Pregnancy is the biggest killer of girls ages 15-19.
  • For every woman who dies in childbirth, 20 more suffer from debilitating complications.
  • We have the knowledge to prevent 90% of all maternal deaths.

Through EveryMotherCounts.org, there are two ways to make a difference.
• A small donation (micro-donations of $5.00) through EveryMotherCounts
• Your old cell phones donated through Hope Phones. (They supply everything and pay the costs of shipping.)

You can also help in this way TODAY.
• Tell the Moms in your network to commit to posting a blog today, on April 27th, or even linking to mine.
• Share this page below using Twitter, Facebook or any of the other Share buttons.
• Join us by hitting the “like” button on www.facebook.com/havemomentum and show your commitment to helping us spread the word about maternal health. Through our Facebook page we will be able to provide you with updates, information, the Moms4Moms badge and more.

Let’s raise awareness for maternal health and help moms in need around the world this Mother’s Day.

Now isn’t that what Mother’s Day is all about?

xoxEDxox