The three of us have been friends for many years. We all ended up in Los Angeles several years ago and decided to start up a monthly get together with some other ladies we knew. And then came the pregnancies, baby showers and kids.

We wanted to pass our baby items on to families in need but we couldn’t find an organization that recycled baby goods specifically. They do it in New York and Boston, so why not here in Los Angeles?

So we decided to start Baby2Baby in the fall of 2006 when we realized we had amassed more clothes, blankets and gear than our collective six children could possibly use. And that was only the three of us.

Our charitable model has been successfully executed in New York and Boston, and we strongly believe Baby2Baby Los Angeles - a county with over 130,000* poor families with children under the age of five - will be equally successful.

Our first drive, which started with an email request for goods to local friends, resulted in three garages full of baby gear and clothes.  After sorting, cleaning and inventorying the donations, we loaded up our cars and distributed the majority of items to three LA organizations:  Beyond Shelter, St. Anne’s and 1736 Family Crisis Center.

The need here in Los Angeles is great. Our organization wants to assist service organizations that are doing incredible work by helping them furnish families with baby equipment both new and gently used.

Thank you for your interest and support in Baby2Baby.

Karis Jagger, Marnie Owens & Lee Michel
Founders, Baby2Baby

*Source: The Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty at the Weingart Center, Los Angeles.