Help Taylor Pay For Her Maternity Care!

We’re raising funds to help Taylor Johndrow cover her maternity leave because she was laid off, at 32 weeks pregnant, when Lock 50, the restaurant she worked for, closed without warning. In Massachusetts we have a program called Paid Family Medical Leave that allows employees to take paid time off to give birth or care for sick loved ones, and Taylor qualified to take maternity leave under this program - until she lost her job through no fault of her own.

Taylor had planned to keep working until going out on maternity leave, and was estimated to receive $846 a week from the PFML program while she gave birth, recovered, and bonded with her new baby. However, when she lost her job she also lost her family leave qualification, so now she has to make due with her $447 weekly unemployment benefit… and that has to not just pay for her living expenses, but also stretch to cover all the things an expecting mother needs to bring home a happy, healthy, and safe baby - medical copays, preparing the baby's room, stocking diapers, food, and clothes, a stroller and carseat, and every other little surprise a new mother discovers on her way.

Please help us help Taylor! We’ve set a fundraising goal of $7,990, which is the $399 a week difference between the PFML payment she expected ($846 a week) and the unemployment benefit she’s receiving ($447 a week), times the 20 weeks from when she was laid off (January 2) through when her leave would’ve ended (May 18). That’s a lot of money, but it goes to show you how much she lost when her restaurant changed the locks without notifying its staff. Please help by donating, and by helping share Taylor’s story so we can get her the money she was depending on to see her through giving birth and bringing her baby home!

(Taylor was also featured prominently in a Worcester Guardian article about Lock 50's closure if you want to read more)