United Way hosts community baby shower for new parents

A baby shower in Morgantown looked less like a private party and more like a community intake desk for growing families. The United Way of Monongalia and Preston counties invited new and expecting parents to a Saturday gathering that paired giveaways with community resources and speakers, giving the event the feel of both celebration and support.

The community baby shower took place June 6, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. EDT at the Wiles Community Center in Morgantown. That setting mattered as much as the gifts, because the event was built to connect parents with information and people they could turn to as they prepared for a baby.

The format fit squarely within United Way’s larger mission. The organization says its work focuses on Health, Education, Financial Stability and Basic Needs, a framework that helps explain why a baby shower would be used as an outreach tool rather than only a social occasion. The United Way Family Resource Network says its mission is to encourage and empower local families through parent leadership, community awareness, capacity building and cooperative planning so Monongalia County families can be resilient and sustainable.

That broader family-support network is already active on other fronts. United Way of Monongalia and Preston counties says Helpful Harvest has helped 8,290 people, and 2,300 children are enrolled in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Together, those numbers show a nonprofit infrastructure that reaches well beyond a single event and into the everyday work of supporting parents, caregivers and young children.

The baby shower also fits a pattern that has been visible locally for years. In 2018, United Way family resource manager Jessica Staley described a community baby shower as a needed resource and an asset to the community, saying agencies were coming together to provide resources for new and expecting mothers. That earlier description now reads like a blueprint for the kind of event United Way hosted in Morgantown on Saturday.

What started as a familiar family ritual has become a community safety net. In Monongalia and Preston counties, the baby shower is increasingly a place where nonprofits can offer supplies, referrals and reassurance at the exact moment parents need them most.