Caring for New Moms: How Sarah Pulley is Giving Back
Meet Sarah Pulley, owner, founder, and hair stylist for Three Seventeen Hair Design in Carmel, Indiana. Throughout 2022, Sarah has donated hair and beauty products for our Comfort Closet, sales proceeds, and gift baskets for our special events. On September 13, Sarah helped to “officially” open the latest feature of our beauty bar, presented by NextGear Capital, in our Maternity Tower Family Room. There, she will be volunteering as a guest services volunteer pampering new mothers who are staying in Riley Children’s Maternity Tower. This isn’t Sarah’s first experience with RMHCCIN…
In 2018, Sarah and husband Adam welcomed baby Amelia 13 weeks earlier than expected. Born at just 1 pound 11 ounces, the teeny baby would spend the first four months of her life in NICUs at Community North Hospital and later Riley Children’s Health. Four months of hospital life left Sarah and Adam running on fumes.
The Pulleys were no strangers to (then) Ronald McDonald House in Riley Hospital. As Sarah explains, the House “was an unreal blessing to us. Every time I was handed a hot meal, I had tears in my eyes. Being able to have a space (within the hospital) to grab a few minutes to myself and sip a cup of coffee made a bigger difference than I could have imagined. The emotional toll a hospital stay takes on a family is understandable; the financial toll is sometimes overlooked. When a family can be provided with meals and a place to rest at no cost, it takes away what can be a huge stressor. Plus, there is always comfort found in food.” The Ronald McDonald House in Riley Children’s Health reopened as a newly remodeled Ronald McDonald Family Room in November 2021.
Today, Amelia is a sweet, thriving four-year-old busy showing the ropes to her little brother, Joey. Sarah opened her own hair salon, Three Seventeen Hair Design, and spends time volunteering at our Family Rooms in Riley, as a guest services volunteer and more recently as a culinary crew member. It’s a natural connection for Sarah, who understands that “those caregivers need extra special attention at times. When your child is in the NICU, we as caregivers tend to neglect ourselves.” Something as simple as a hair-washing can leave a person feeling like they can breathe again, that they can feel more human.