Vitamin Angels is helping expand access to prenatal vitamins for women during pregnancy and after birth in the Quad Cities through its partnership with the YWCA Empowerment Center, a trusted community organization serving Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa.

Through a grant from Vitamin Angels, the YWCA provides prenatal vitamins at no cost to families. Offered alongside diapers, food, hygiene items, childcare support, and transportation assistance, offering prenatal vitamins becomes part of a broader system of care that families can access in one familiar place.

For Vitamin Angels, this partnership reflects a core approach: delivering proven nutrition solutions through community organizations that families already know and trust.

Meeting Families Where They Are

At the YWCA Empowerment Center, families often arrive seeking something immediate-a pack of diapers, a meal, or a place to do laundry. What they find is a network of services designed to support their health and well-being over time.

Each week, 170 to 190 families access services at the center, which include a choice-based food pantry, hygiene items, childcare support, and prenatal vitamins.

For many families, access starts before they ever walk through our doors.

“Transportation is one of the biggest barriers for the families we serve. Sometimes the biggest barrier is simply getting here,” said Amy Schaffer, Director of the Empowerment Center. “Through ride-hailing services, we’re able to help families get to the center so they can access diapers, food, prenatal vitamins, and the other supports they need in one place.”

For many, these services are interconnected. A visit for diapers becomes an opportunity to access additional support, including maternal nutrition.

“Diapers are a huge gateway service,” Schaffer said. “People come in for one thing, and then they realize there are other resources available to them.”

Expanding Access to Prenatal Nutrition

Through its partnership with the YWCA, Vitamin Angels supports the distribution of prenatal vitamins within a trusted, community-based setting. In the first six months of the program, more than 500 bottles were distributed to pregnant and post-partum women in the Quad Cities, many of whom may not otherwise have had access. 

Cost remains a consistent barrier.

And for Jarvis, a father raising his daughter on his own, the YWCA’s services, including diapers, food, and clothing, help create space to prioritize his child’s health. “Everything is expensive,” he said. “Sometimes you have to decide what you can afford now and what has to wait.” 

“A mom may be choosing between rent, food, and diapers,” said Julie Larson, President and CEO of YWCA Quad Cities. “Prenatal vitamins are essential, but they are often one of the first things that gets left off the list.” 

For Brianna, a mother who moved to the Quad Cities from Milwaukee and found community through the YWCA, free access to prenatal vitamins made the difference. “I would not have taken the prenatal vitamins if they cost money,” Brianna said. “At that time, I wouldn’t have had the money to buy them.”

By integrating prenatal vitamins into existing services, the program helps ensure that maternal nutrition is more accessible—without requiring additional appointments or systems to navigate.

Julie Larson reflects, “I think they’re feeling empowered when they get the free prenatal vitamins. Nothing’s more important than the health and well-being of your children. It’s so important with prenatal vitamins that they have that tool, which is expensive to purchase on their own. And we see better health outcomes when mom’s healthy and then baby’s healthy.”

Building on Trust to Support Health

Trust plays a central role in how families engage with services at the YWCA.

“Our clients know that what we’re offering is going to support them,” Schaffer said. 

This trust creates the conditions for families to try new services—including prenatal vitamins —and to continue using them over time.

For Sarah, a mother of five, access to prenatal vitamins was especially important during a pregnancy marked by severe morning sickness.“I was sick all the time,” she said. “I wanted to make sure my baby and I were still getting the nutrients we needed.” 

After struggling with other options, she found one she could tolerate in the prenatal vitamins provided by Vitamin Angels to the YWCA—making it possible to continue taking the prenatal vitamins throughout her pregnancy.

Supporting Parents, Strengthening Families

For the parents who rely on the YWCA Empowerment Center, the support they receive is about more than meeting immediate needs. It helps create stability, connection, and confidence during one of the most important periods in a family’s life.

“I think it’s important to have community support for parents and babies,” said Sarah, a mother served through the Empowerment Center. “You need friendship, you need to get out with other people that have kids and feel like you’re not alone.”

That sense of support matters because parenting often requires constant sacrifice and care.

“Motherhood means making sacrifices for your kids,” Sarah said. “I love my kids unconditionally, more than anything else. They come first.”

For Sarah’s husband Victor, fatherhood has brought a renewed sense of purpose.

“She gave me a reason for life,” he said. “Babies always bring everybody back together.”

Each parent describes the motivation that comes from caring for their children every day.

“One of my favorite things about being a mom is the new stuff that she does every day,” Sarah said. “She makes us laugh every day. She gives me a reason to wake up—motivation for the day.”

Victor echoed that same feeling.

“Just to see them every morning, wake up, they’re motivation for the day,” he said. “I have a reason for life. It’s beautiful.”

Together, their reflections show why accessible, trusted support matters: when parents have what they need, they are better able to care for themselves, their babies, and their families.

Supporting the Full Continuum of Care

The use of prenatal vitamins does not end at birth. Many mothers continue taking them postpartum, recognizing their role in supporting recovery, care for their babies, and overall health.

This continuity reflects a broader strength of the YWCA model: services are not delivered in isolation, but as part of an ongoing relationship with families.

In 2025, the Empowerment Center served more than 10,000 individuals, a 580% increase from the previous year, with projections to reach 15,000 in 2026. 

This growth reflects both increasing demand and the effectiveness of a model grounded in accessibility, integration, and trust.

A Partnership Approach to Improving Maternal Health

Vitamin Angels’ work is rooted in partnership, supporting program partners like the YWCA to integrate evidence-based nutrition interventions into the services they already provide.

By aligning with trusted community organizations, prenatal vitamins can reach families in ways that are accessible, relevant, and sustainable.

At the YWCA, this approach is visible every day: families come for one service and leave with a broader set of tools to support their health and well-being.

As Larson shared:

“When moms have what they need to stay healthy, it creates the foundation for their children to thrive.”