To see Christina Shutter’s social media posts, you might think her life is full of glamorous fundraiser galas, complete with the perfect dress, trendy shoes, lipstick and star quality smiles.
You might be surprised what this single mom to five year-old Lucas (and dog Layla) is able to accomplish in a typical week. She is a full time college student completing a BS in Business Administration and Nonprofit Management while working full time at the American Cancer Society. Many people who are employed at a nonprofit would feel that they have checked the
Lisette Morales
Christina Shutter
giving back to the community box in their life, but Christina spends her free time as a volunteer affiliate director of I Support the Girls, a nonprofit she brought to Southwest Florida after Hurricane Irma, to meet the often overlooked of feminine products to women and girls who desperately need them.
You might also be surprised to learn that her perfect little black dress and heels are likely to be from True Fashionistas, an upscale consignment store in North Naples, and that Christina would rather be bare-faced and barefoot at home with her boyfriend, son and dog getting a well-deserved break from her busy weekday life.
What surprised me most about Christina was how overwhelmed she was to be featured as Neapolitan Family’s MOMentum Mom. As tears welled up in her eyes, she told me that exactly three years ago, she was starting over as a single mom and she felt “completely broken.” She told me, as she rebuilt her personal and professional life, it was one thing to have her performance be validated at work, but to be “validated as a mom” was just about the greatest accomplishment of all.
What is your current job and what do you love about it?
I am currently the Community Support Coordinator at the American Cancer Society Naples office. I am responsible for a lot of the back end planning and paperwork that comes with throwing our annual Bucked List Bash Gala and the Relay For Life Events in Collier County and Bonita/Estero. Aside from seeing successful fundraising events come to fruition after months of planning and hard work, I love interacting with patients and survivors and guiding them to available resources. I want each and every one of them to leave feeling more hopeful.
What is I Support the Girls? What inspired you to get involved with this organization?
I Support The Girls is an organization of Affiliate Directors located all over the United States (and recently a few in other countries) who collect and distribute essential items such including bras, new underwear and menstrual hygiene products. Our goal is to ensure that women who are experiencing homelessness, domestic abuse, impoverishment or distress are still able to stand tall with dignity. No woman should ever be faced with choosing between feeding herself or her children and being able to afford her monthly box of tampons or a new bra. It’s not uncommon for my trunk to be full of bras and tampons and meeting women who contact me in parking lots of supermarkets because they need product to get through the month or a new bra for their teenaged daughter.
I started the SWFL chapter of I Support The Girls immediately following Hurricane Irma in September of 2017. I saw our community coming together in tremendous way to supply people with food, water, ice, etc. and it occurred to me that there were hundreds of local women who didn’t have access to menstrual products immediately following a disaster. I made a post on my personal Facebook page asking for donations of pads and tampons and within hours, complete strangers were dropping off bags of supplies at my front door. Two days following Irma, I visited a small local migrant worker community and we brought food and water and other supplies for the women and their children. It was there that I was able to give the women our first donation of pads and tampons. The way that their faces lit up when they realized that someone had actually thought about THOSE NEEDS was something that I will never forget. That day inevitably changed my entire purpose in life.
What is a typical weekday like for you and your son?
It probably mirrors a lot of single parent’s mornings just trying to get everyone out the door, to school/daycare and get to work on time. I am typically at the ACS office from 9-5, Monday through Friday. [After work,] I pick Luke back up from care, stop for errands, feed him, bathe him, walk the dog, shower, catch up on emails and messages from the day, submit any school work that is due and collapse in bed. Talk about GLAMOROUS, right?
What do you like to do for fun with your family on weekends?
We are so lucky to live in a place where there are always a number of family friendly community events going on and Saturdays are ADVENTURE DAY! We also enjoy spending time at the beach, Botanical Garden, local parks,splash pads, and relaxing afternoons at our neighborhood pool.
The sunset beach shot was taken by my father during his recent visit for Luke’s 5th birthday. We had gone out to the beach one evening after dinner to catch a quick sunset. The sky is absolutely beautiful and we are at our “happy place”. Visits from my father are very special as he is a stage 4 melanoma survivor.
What are other challenges have you experienced as a single mother?
For me personally, the biggest challenge of being a single mother is the ability to swing it financially on one income (his father is a part of his life). Living in paradise is can be a bit pricey and finding affordable housing is a huge problem facing many local single moms. My son is my driving force and has given me a level of direction and motivation that did not exist prior to becoming his mother. Every single tight hug, kiss and “I love you, momma” is worth all of the hard days and tears that I have shed along this journey.
Randy Shutter