Prairie Village group delivers peonies on Mother’s Day to women facing infertility and loss

PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. (KCTV) - Mother’s Day can be especially painful for women struggling with infertility, pregnancy loss or the death of a child.

Shelby Bartelt, founder of The Peony Project KC, knows that feeling.

“I remember so desperately just wanting to be acknowledged, particularly on Mother’s Day,” Bartelt said.

According to the World Health Organization, one in six people worldwide experience infertility.

Bartelt and her husband were among them. The couple has since welcomed three children, but Bartelt said the grief and the weight of infertility and loss can remain.

“Someone who experienced it, that weight is always with them even if they do have children and for some women, sadly, that opportunity never comes,” she said.

Bartelt created The Peony Project KC four years ago as a way to lift that weight — even if only for a moment.

Each Mother’s Day, more than 40 volunteers deliver peony bouquets to women who are experiencing infertility or who have lost a pregnancy or child.

“A bouquet of peonies landing on a woman’s doorstep on Mother’s Day is potentially with peonies from gardens of people she’s never met,” Bartelt said.

With every delivery, Bartelt hopes recipients remember one simple truth.

“For women who have lost a pregnancy or a child, you are a mother. You will always be a mother,” she said.

You nominate a woman to receive a bouquet or sign-up to volunteers by visiting The Peony Project KC’s social media pages.