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TESTIMONIALS AND REVIEWS

As well as our current online reviews, we wanted to share the pleasure we get from of seeing many great friendships and bonds form in Silicon Valley over the years, we have been around since 1952! Below are a few of our favorite stories from our members, past and present.

If you are current member or alum and would like rate or review us on-line that would be fantastic! Also if you want to send us a email with your story for us to share with our current membership please do at contactus@lasmadres.org, we would love to hear from you!

Click on the links to see reviews and testimonials we have received on line!

Facebook gives us a 5 out of 5.
Yelp gives us 5 stars
Google gives us 5 stars
Check out the recommendations we have received on Nextdoor

A post to Las Madres members in the Workplace app, December 2023.

LETTER FROM LYNN, RECEIVED 2019

LETTER RECEIVED FROM MARIAN, FEBRUARY 2016

I was very active in Las Madres when I had my daughter, Sharilyn, in 1989. Las Madres was my community and became a HUGE part of my life for the years (and 3 more children!) that followed. To this day, my very dearest friends are from the ‘89 playgroup. The kids are still very close, too. Four of us families still get together every New Year’s Eve and have been doing so for nearly 25 years.

This month my daughter is having a baby – my first grandbaby! – and she’s planning to join Las Madres. As a former member I’m happy to see the group is still going strong, and as a mother I’m comforted she’ll have a strong community to support her parenting journey.

Las Madres is an excellent resource for South Bay moms, dads, grandparents and caregivers – I plan to re-join as a grandmother. If you’re navigating parenthood for your first, second, even fourth time, I highly encourage you to check it out!

–Marian Heinkel, ‘89, ‘95, Big Sister ‘97 and Grandma ‘16

LETTER FROM KIM RECEIVED 2015

"Hello. My name is Kim Banta. I am enclosing a photo that was taken last night at our annual dinner. We got together through Las Madres in 1988 and have gotten together annually ever since. Our children are now 27 years old, getting their degrees in college, getting married, and having babies.

I thought you would be interested to know that Las Madres brought us together and we are all extremely grateful. Many fun times and memories made back then and still being made today.

Please keep this group going. It creates friendships that last a lifetime."

LETTER FROM BARBIE, RECEIVED 2006

Hi Folks -

I just wanted to drop Las Madres a line and say "Thanks." I was a member of the Las Madres Willow Glen group of 1988.

Just recently, I watched 8 kids having a great time together on the beach, as some of them have been doing together for over a decade and a half. Two of them have known each other since before they could walk. We have pictures of them with bottles in a crib. Three children are siblings of Las Madres '88 kids and have known this group since before they were born.

Back then, there was no Las Madres website, just a phone number. The person on the other end gave you the number of the contact person for your group. In my case, I was referred to an experienced Las Madres mom who had volunteered to mentor the group for our area since she also had a child born in my son's year. I was relatively new to the San Jose area and had few contacts there since I had worked up the Peninsula. I knew almost no one with babies. I felt lost with a newborn. Fortunately, I picked up a Las Madres flyer and made that call.

For years, our group gathered every Wednesday at 10 a.m., until the kids were in school. Even then, some of us would come without our original kid member and bring any younger kids along. It's hard to say who got more out of the group, the moms or the kids. At first it was for the moms. I would wake my kids up if they were napping because I needed that time with other moms. We also had mom's nights out, ski weekends, one memorable trip to Calistoga, camping trips and other activities. I can't begin to describe how important the friendships I formed in Las Madres have been to me.

The kids got benefits too, of course. They got to experience every park in the local area and many beyond that. They had a group of friends to play with every Wednesday, as well as during play dates and babysitting times. They loved the Winter Holiday parties and Easter Egg hunts and Halloween parties we did. Boy, were they cute, all lined up in their little costumes. But the biggest benefit has been their enduring friendships with each other. Many of the children can't remember not knowing each other. Two girls are heading off to UC Davis together in the fall. Four of the girls have been best friends nearly since birth. We knew the two younger siblings would share a name if they were both girls months before they were born. They spent their pre-birth time side by side as their mothers pushed their older siblings on the swings. Even if months have passed since the last visit, they all pick up right where they left off.

Looking back, I would have to say that joining Las Madres was the single most valuable thing I did as a new parent. I probably could have survived without all that it gave me - maybe. But the support, the advice and the cameraderie over "blow-outs" and skinned knees and early school days and rejoining the workforce made difficulties into bonding moments.

With thanks,

Barbie mom of two ('88 and '90)