Port Hedland mother Lani Kereopa broke down in tears when her local supermarkets ran out of the only kind of formula her 10-month-old son can tolerate.
Key points:
- Mother Lani Kereopa took to social media for help when local grocery stores ran out of formula
- She received donations of breast milk from seven women
- Ms Kereopa was ‘blown away’ by the positive response
But tears of sadness quickly turned into tears of joy after a social media post sparked an outpouring of community support and donations of precious breast milk.
“Seven moms donated breast milk,” she said.
“I have enough for three weeks.
Ms Kereopa said the availability of a specific brand of goat formula, along with many other grocery products, has been affected by recent supply chain issues.
“I broke down in my store thinking, ‘How am I going to feed my baby?'” she said.
“There are kids like my kids who can’t handle other types of infant formula and they get very sick.”
Prepare for shame but overwhelmed by generosity
Ms Kereopa had previously wanted to apply for breast milk donations online but feared she would be humiliated.
When she discovered local supermarket shelves were stripped of baby formula, she was “blown away” by the positive response to a request for baby formula or breast milk on social media.
“I can’t stop crying because breastmilk is such a special thing and it’s something I couldn’t do, so having the community give it away was like ‘wow'” , she said.
“These ladies didn’t want anything back, which I find really difficult because I want to give back.”
