By Jen Franklin Kearns, ds-connex team member

This year, in celebration of Mother’s Day, ds-connex wants to recognize our favorite superheroes: moms!

The past year has certainly been a challenge. One thing is for certain, though: moms showed up. Moms have answered the challenge of stepping up their support for their families, schools, employers, and communities. Moms showed up to support our kids for online school, for hybrid school, and for in-person school. We showed up when our kids were sad that they couldn’t spend time with family and friends, and when they were overjoyed at the reunions with those same people when it was safe to gather again. Moms created magical birthdays and holidays, even though we didn’t know how we would ever accomplish that. We made sure masks and hand sanitizer were ready to go as soon as we got the green light that our kids could return to their favorite extracurricular activities, and then we were the loudest cheerleaders.

Moms kept things running, as smoothly as we could manage, even though our days were exhausting and filled with worry. We showed up because that’s just what moms and superheroes do.

To celebrate Mother’s Day 2021, we want to share stories about the amazing moms in the Down syndrome community!

Beginning Friday, April 23rd, we hope you’ll share your story or the story of another wonderful mom you know, along with a photo. Anyone can nominate a mom, and for this contest, moms can even nominate themselves! A photo must be included with your nomination; it can be a pic of the mom, the kids, or their entire family. We will collect submissions through May 6th; please email your photos and stories to contests@ds-connex.org. We will share your stories and photos on the ds-connex social media channels so we can all cheer each other on. We did some pretty great things over the last year, and it’s time to celebrate that! We will randomly draw five entries to receive a $50 e-gift card to Walmart, Target, or Amazon!

Contest details:

Contest entries should be submitted via email to contests@ds-connex.org, beginning 4/23/21. All submissions will require a photo or with a brief story (3-4 sentences, including the mother’s name and email address) detailing how amazing the mom is. Five winners of a $50 e-gift card will be randomly drawn on 5/7/21 and winners will be notified via email. By submitting an entry, you are granting ds-connex to share your photo and story across our social media channels. Please note that ds-connex may edit your entry for grammar or length.