Every birth deserves a doula.

That conviction lives at the heart of everything we do at Mary's Hands Network. On January 8, 2027, we're inviting you to celebrate it with us.

The need we couldn't ignore.

In Louisiana, we lose mothers and babies at rates that would be unconscionable anywhere. Our founder, Madeline LeBlanc, grew up in Baton Rouge and watched the women in her own community face pregnancy, birth, and loss without the support they deserved. Her question, how could I make this better?, became Mary's Hands Network. Three years later, more than 500 families in our community have been walked through their pregnancies by a doula in a lavender jacket. None of them faced it alone.

The work that's possible when a mother isn't alone.

Among the mothers we serve, cesarean births are nearly 60 percent lower than the Louisiana average. Preterm births are more than 75 percent lower. Low birth weight is nearly 80 percent lower. These aren't just numbers. They're babies who came home healthy, mothers who came home whole, families that got the start they deserved.

We've now trained more than 260 doulas, certified through ICEA, and stitched together one of the largest volunteer doula networks in the South. Mothers who came to us pregnant are returning to train as doulas themselves. Three have come back to walk with us through second babies. The legacy is real, and it's growing.

About the evening.

On January 8, 2027, we'll gather at the Renaissance Hotel in Baton Rouge for In Her Honor: A Legacy in Lavender, our inaugural Awards Gala. An evening of dinner, music, and shared purpose, where we celebrate the doulas, families, partners, and champions who have made this work possible. We'll honor extraordinary contributions to maternal health. We'll raise a glass to the mothers who saved themselves while we walked beside them. And we'll commit, together, to placing more lavender jackets beside more mothers in 2027 and beyond.

Your seat at the table.

Whether you're sponsoring a table, joining us with a single ticket, or supporting from afar with a gift, you're helping to fund a year of free volunteer doula care for any Louisiana family who calls our hotline. You're funding doula training, scholarships, bilingual support, bereavement care, and the slow, steady building of healthier futures, one family at a time.

If you want to change the world, start where the world begins: with a mother and her child.

Join us. Leave your legacy in lavender.

With gratitude and determination,
Madeline LeBlanc
Founder, Mary's Hands Network

In Her Honor: A Legacy in Lavender Awards Gala

January 8, 2027 · Renaissance Hotel, Baton Rouge