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PUBLISHED ON DECEMBER 25, 2008:

Local Heroes

People whose good deeds make Tucson a better place

By WEEKLY STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS email the Weekly
Local Heroes
Naomi and Elizabeth Caraballo

Naomi and Elizabeth Caraballo
After a horrible tragedy, these two sisters decided to assist moms in need

At From One Mother to Another's headquarters, piles of toys and clothing line the walls, and spill out onto the tile. Naomi Caraballo ignores the upheaval; she's adjusted to living in a house that doubles as a charity.

For co-founders (and sisters) Naomi and Elizabeth Caraballo, the dream of gathering starter items like cribs, clothing and diapers to donate to needy families began six months ago. As the economy took a plunge early this fall, the number of families needing assistance skyrocketed.

"In the beginning, my sister and I had two or three families, and every other day, we would go and drop off donations," Elizabeth said. "Now, with over 300 families, we hardly see each other."

With financial woes looming, time constraints are the least of Elizabeth's worries. According to the duo, at a fashion-show fundraiser the agency held last month, From One Mother to Another actually lost money.

"For this particular event, we had an unexpected bill which put us $1,400 in the hole," Elizabeth said. "This was supposed to be our seed money, so that we could finish our 501(c)(3) (tax-exempt) status and become recognized as a nonprofit agency by the government and apply for grants."

Elizabeth tears up as she talks about her agencies' recent disappointments. It wasn't long ago that she was a single parent herself, pregnant with a child whose father had been murdered. With the help of friends and family, Elizabeth was able to take two weeks off of work after the birth of her now-2-year-old daughter.

"I started to search for single-mother help, or starting-family help, just to see what's out there," Elizabeth recalls. "Outside of AHCCCS and DES (the state Department of Economic Security), there really wasn't much."

After being laid off by a health-insurance/cost-containment company, Elizabeth decided it was her turn to spread generosity, like her friends and family had shown her. Elizabeth's first effort--a low-profile MySpace charity page--had little impact, because few friends showed interest in sponsoring one family a month.

Now Elizabeth and her daughter, Naomi (named after her aunt), live with Elizabeth's parents, a sacrifice Elizabeth made as From One Mother to Another continued to grow.

"What we have done is, basically, we've created our inventory through donations, but everything outside of that--from the storage space, to the gas it takes, to the man hours--has all been on our backs," Elizabeth said.

That's why From One Mother to Another, in collaboration with Park Place Mall's The Body Shop and Little Gym at 7225 E. Broadway Blvd., is asking people to offer a $3 dollar donation to help fund the processing fees associated with applying for 501(c)(3) status. The Body Shop is also hosting a giving tree for the agency.

"We've been in purgatory for six months, because we just can't afford to get through the next step," Elizabeth said. "I want so much better for what we are doing--and I see something terrific; I see something that's needed."

Elizabeth begins to tear up again, but this time, her sister intercedes with a childhood song that "drives Elizabeth nuts." Within moments, a smile spreads across Elizabeth's face--she's acknowledging her organization's accomplishments.

"I just focus on the fact that today, I gave somebody a bed who has never had one--and he's 4 years old," Elizabeth said.

To donate items to From One Mother to Another, call 904-4555, or e-mail. For more information, visit the Web site.

Megan Neighbor

We were in the paper today!

In today's Tucson Weekly From One Mother to Another was in the Local Heroes section!

Here is the link if you would like to read the article!

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid:120004.

Christmas is around the corner!

We wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday! Thank you all for following us on our ups and downs and we are looking forward to a great next year!

Civano Community School

We want to say a HUGE thank you to the Civano Community School! They collected a whole truck load of items for our families and we truly appreciated it! I forgot my camera but it was a sight to see. The students helped me load up the truck and I was so excited to have so many great items!

Thank you Civano Community school!

What amazing food!

Tonight was a party for a private networking group we are a part of, The New York Life Networking group. It was hosted at Enoteca on the corner of Congress and Church. I was the best food I have had in Tucson in a long time! Thank you so much to the ladies they donated $250 towards our 501c3 application!

Thank you for a wonderful night!

Saturday Night!

So in spite of our already long day we headed out to walk in The Parade of Lights that started at Armory Park. We got the opportunity to walk with The Little Gym and hand out T-Shirts to the crowd!

If you have never been to The Little Gym now is the time! They are a drop off location for donations and they are always looking for ways to be involved in the community! Here is the front of our section!

Saturday Morning!

We started Saturday with a trip to the Historic Train Depot. They were doing a huge Christmas Celebration there. They had a craft fair, jumping castles, kids rides and much more!

It was really fun to watch the kids make letters to Santa and Christmas decorations!



Then we got to see SANTA!!!! He rode up with his Elves and Mrs. Claus on their Harley Davidson Motorcycles! The kids were so excited!



We want to thank the Historic Train Museum for adding us to our event and thank you to all the families that brought donations!

Lets start with Friday!

So it is Sunday and we have had a HUGE weekend. First we will start with Friday.





From 6pm to 8pm we were at The Little Gym wrapping presents that there members donated for our families. It was so much fun! Everyone was wrapping and the kids were playing and wearing themselves out!



They collected gifts for From One mother to Another and New Beggingins for Women and Children. In the end there were over 150 pairs of shoes and gifts for our two organizations. They called this Event Kids helping Kids! What a success and we can't wait till next year! Thank you to The Little Gym and all the families that donated!

Some new pictures

We got more pictures from the Tucson Fashion Feast. Here you go!

It is going to be busy!

It is going to be a busy weekend! So keep checking back as we will be posting pictures on all our events!

Thursday!

So it is Thursday! We are looking to have a huge volunteer day the weekend after Christmas! Please email us info@from1mother2another.com if you would be interested!
KOLD 13 should be there to!

Another day, another dollar

So here we are the 9th of December and still 500 shy of our goal of $800 in 10 days. So if any of you are waiting to the last minute to pledge now is the TIME!

We got the opportunity to attend the NAWBO Holiday Auction and luncheon and it was an eye opening experience. We truly hope we can have an event that well run and profitable in the near future. Thank you Lola and Ellen from Effortless HR for inviting us to attend. We had a great time at the Manning House!

Giving Tree

For those of you that really want to give we have a giving tree at "The Body Shop" in the Park Place Mall. Go by and say hi! to our good friend the manager Alex!


Thank you for your constant support Alex!

Now is the time!

Hello All!

Now is the time to spread the word about From One Mother to Another if there ever was!

First, there are a lot of families in need and we are here to help!

Second, there are a lot of families in need and we need help! There are two things we must accomplish by the end of the year or we are not sure how we are going to continue on. We MUST raise $800 to finish our 501 c3 application. We also need to rally volunteers to help us deliver to the families in need before the holiday's. We would love all of our families to have a great Christmas and we need a lot of help to get there!

Please tell your friends about us! Have them follow our blog so we can see how many people we reach! Have them email us at info@from1mother2another.com so we can truly make a difference with Tucson's children!

One of the newcomers Cyran Clothing designed this elegant dress.

This is my favorite dress of the evening, a gown by Phillip Manus.





This is gown by DL-Couture.

Tucson Fashion Feast

I thought I would add some photos of our last event The Tucson Fashion Feast. Sorry I haven't posted much lately! I will get back on top of keeping you all updated on our happenings!