Guardsman with Newborn Finds Shower Heartwarming and Helpful
When National Guard Spc. Ilsia Perez Coloma arrived at an Operation Homefront Star-Spangled Babies® shower at Ellington Joint Reserve Base in Houston, Texas, she found a cadre volunteers to welcome her, her mom, and her baby.
Ilsia was among 20 new and expecting military parents who attended the event sponsored by Navy Federal Credit Union and designed to bridge the gap in support networks of military families who often live far from extended family. Since 2008, the Star-Spangled Babies program has provided critical baby supplies to more than 21,000 new and expecting military families.
“It’s really heartwarming to know there are people thinking about other people’s families,” said Ilsia, a single mom who joined the National Guard in 2019 and has been deployed to the Texas-Mexico border since 2021.
The morning of the shower, she secured baby Itzel into her small SUV and made the 360-mile trek from McAllen, Texas, to attend the shower. Ilsia, still on maternity leave after delivering her first baby only three weeks before by Caesarean section, was happy to have her own mother, Ines, along for the trip.
The warm welcome, along with refreshments and an array of gifts — including a mini crib courtesy of Delta Children —made the seven-hour drive worthwhile. Volunteers helped parents design custom onesies, and families received other personalized baby items such as blankets and bibs in addition to essentials such as diapers, wipes, detergent, and baby formula.
“It was a great help because you can never have enough diapers and wipes, especially for newborns. Even detergent, too, because you’re constantly washing the clothes,” she said. “Nowadays, everything is so expensive, and it’s just my mom and me. I don’t have extra support financially or morally. It’s just us.”
The shower also provided an opportunity to meet other moms, make new friends, and learn from peers and experts. Nurses shared information about delivering on base, first aid for infants, and a support group for new parents.
“Information-wise, it was really good,” said Ilsia, who appreciated learning more about Tri-Care insurance and was especially interested in information about early childhood and after-school education programs.
Though baby Itzel won’t need those services for a few years, education opportunities hold a special place in Ilsia’s heart because she is a certified teacher.
Ilsia joined the military as a means of furthering her education. She had immigrated from Cuba in 2012 to join her mother, Ines, in Texas. She earned an associate degree and then enlisted in the military so she could complete her bachelor’s degree without incurring debt. She weighed which branch to join and serendipitously found a National Guard recruiting office and realized it was a good fit.
“It’s really heartwarming to know there are people thinking about other people’s families.” – Spc. Ilsia Perez Coloma, National Guard
One day, she will be in the classroom as a teacher. For now, though, she is responsible for securing her Guard company’s equipment along the Texas border and is one of about 3,000 troops deployed to the Rio Grande border in Texas as part of Operation Lone Star.
She purchased a home in McAllen and plans to stay there after the deployment.
Knowing Ilsia’s family faced a long drive home the following day, volunteers supplied them with drinks and snacks for the drive back to McAllen. They also helped her load the bounty of gifts into her Kia Soul. Before they managed to wrangle the portable crib into the vehicle, one volunteer was planning to drive to deliver it to her in the Valley.
Ilsia was glad she followed her sergeant’s advice to sign up for the Star-Spangled Babies shower and was grateful for all the support.
“The act of donating those items or volunteering time to hand out information, make conversation, and be supportive is really gratifying,” she said.
