Trevecca Helps Ella’s House with Special Photo Shoot

When several Trevecca students gave up part of a weekend to take photos for young mothers, Susan Reinfeldt saw the beauty of students coming alongside other students.

Reinfeldt is the director of operations for Ella’s House, a local nonprofit that supports pregnant and parenting college students across Middle Tennessee. Trevecca student photographers provided the organization with a pre-Mother’s Day photo shoot, giving mothers served by Ella’s House the opportunity to have professional photos taken with their children.

The photo shoot took place on Trevecca’s campus, where each mother had an individual time slot and was paired with a student photographer. Trevecca students Mya Leach, Holden Payseur and Won Seo helped provide the photography for the event.

For many of the mothers, Reinfeldt said, it may have been one of the first professional photos they had taken while pregnant or with their child. The photos were later given to the mothers in frames as a Mother’s Day gift.

“They did a beautiful job,” Reinfeldt said. “Our women loved it, and we were so grateful for the partnership.”

Ella’s House began with a deeply personal story. Reinfeldt’s daughter, Elise Jenkins, had leukemia as a child and underwent treatment that made it unlikely she would be able to have children. Years later, while she was a student at Auburn University, Jenkins found out she was pregnant.

Jenkins chose to continue her education while navigating pregnancy and motherhood. One week after she gave birth to her daughter, Ella Rae, she walked across the stage at Auburn to receive a degree in child life studies.

While Jenkins had support from family, Reinfeldt said her daughter also remembered the loneliness of being a pregnant college student, especially when it seemed like no one else around her was walking through the same experience.

When Ella Rae was a few years old, Jenkins decided she wanted to help other women facing similar circumstances. She and Reinfeldt began researching the need and eventually founded Ella’s House, now in its fifth year.

Since its founding, the organization has grown from a small house serving two women to a broader model supporting pregnant and parenting students through housing, food, counseling, mentorship, childcare resources and community.

“We designed the Ella’s House model to say, you can be an amazing mother, and you can be a scholar with a degree,” Reinfeldt said.

Ella’s House operates what it calls the Nest House, where women can live from the time they find out they are pregnant until their child turns one. During that time, housing, food, counseling, financial coaching, mentorship and maternal and infant care are provided at no cost.

After that, mothers can move into transitional housing, where they can stay until they graduate. The organization also serves women in the community who have adequate housing but need extra resources.

Reinfeldt said the organization’s work is centered on three primary goals: reducing housing insecurity, alleviating food insecurity or insufficiency, and boosting maternal, infant and mental health.

For Trevecca, the Mother’s Day photo shoot offered a simple but meaningful way to support that mission.

“There is nothing more powerful than students coming alongside other students,” Reinfeldt said. “When their peers are pouring into them and saying, ‘Hey, we see you, and we’re right here,’ that is so powerful.”

Reinfeldt said Ella’s House also hopes college students will help spread the word about the organization so students who may need support know they are not alone. She said students can volunteer, pray and help point others toward a support system that exists to help them continue pursuing their goals.

“There is a lifeline,” Reinfeldt said. “There is a safety net. We can catch them, and we’ll help them reach their goals and become a beautiful parent.”

For students who may be facing an unexpected pregnancy or a difficult season, Reinfeldt said her message is one of compassion and presence.

“Often in life, we find ourselves in situations we never could have imagined,” Reinfeldt said. “And sometimes those situations are ones we believe we can’t handle, ones we might be ashamed of, ones that might make us terrified. And yet, Jesus is there in the midst, in the center of that situation.”

Reinfeldt said she believes God sends people to walk alongside those facing difficult circumstances.

“He does send people to help,” she said. “And I believe that he sends all of us.”

Through Ella’s House, Reinfeldt said mothers are reminded that continuing their education and becoming parents do not have to be separate dreams.

And through the Mother’s Day photo shoot, Trevecca students were able to help those mothers feel seen.