By Jessica Easthope
COLLEGE POINT — Raynellys Nunez and her two-year-old daughter Zoe are inseparable. Being a mom is everything she’s ever dreamed of.
“She is my world. From the moment I open my eyes to the moment I close my eyes to sleep,” Nunez said.
But Nunez almost missed out on the joys of motherhood when she moved from the Dominican Republic to New York City — alone, afraid and newly pregnant.
“I was scared of the unknown and that was blocking me. That was stopping me and getting me into a dark place,” she said.
Considering abortion, Nunez’s best friend Sara brought her to The Bridge to Life.
“They opened their doors and they listened to me and my little girl is here and I am here and so happy for being her mother and having her and not having to make like a big mistake,” Nunez said.
On July 9, Nunez, who has since moved to Florida with Zoe and Zoe’s dad — her husband — was back where her journey to motherhood began. This time as a guest of honor — the recipient of two scholarships. The Bridge to Life’s executive director Francesca Yellico says Nunez is the perfect candidate for the Bridge to Life Scholarship as well as the Kathleen Mullally Scholarship for pregnant and parenting students. Nunez is studying English, hoping to one day become a medical assistant.
“This is what happens here. People become family. These girls become family. It doesn’t take a lot to help someone. And that’s what Bridge to Life does, they just need to know that there’s somebody they can fall back on if they need some help. It’s a very special gift for me to be that person that they call,” Yellico said.
The Kathleen Mullally Scholarship was started by one of The Bridge to Life’s volunteers. Josie Catalano named the award after her aunt who passed away in 2018.
“Part of it is because she never had children of her own. I think she felt like she didn’t deserve to have her family in a funny way. And this is kind of my way of saying to her, well, now you have a bigger family than you could have ever, ever had,” Catalano said.
The Bridge to Life will always be part of Nunez’s story.
“I want her to see by example through her mother no matter how difficult things are you have to keep going,” Nunez said.
She walked in scared but leaves now a role model for the child she chose and continues to choose every day.