Meet-A-Mom, Philanthropist, and Community Leader- Lindsay Pollina! | Birmingham Bloomfield Hills Moms

Lindsay Pollina is a busy mom of two adorable kiddos, the Co-Founder of FLAG (read more to find out!) and the president of the Bloomfield Village Social Club! Read on to learn more about Lindsay, and how you can help feed our front line workers AND help local restaurants at the same time!

How many children do you have and what are their names and ages?

I have 2 kids. Ella just turned 7, and Frankie is 5.

How did you and your husband meet?

My husband, Ryan, and I met back in 2005 through mutual friends on a night out in Royal Oak. Ryan was in his first year of medical school at Wayne State when we met. We’ve been together ever since, moved to Chicago, and back to Royal Oak, and finally ended up here in Bloomfield Hills.

Why did you decide to raise your family here? 

My husband grew up living in Bloomfield Village. His parents still live here. We loved the neighborhood feel and being walking distance to Quarton Elementary and downtown Birmingham. I also love that we have a social club. It makes our large neighborhood feel small. I’ve made so many friends through the Bloomfield Village Social Club, and have taken on many roles; this year I’m the President…leave it to me to be President of a social club during a global pandemic! We gather once a month at a member’s home and have appetizers and wine and socialize…although COVID has led us to cancel some of our in person meetings and switch them over to Zoom. Each month we chose an organization to work with, or donate to for our philanthropy. We also have a playgroup for moms with young kids, book club, euchre club, cookbook club, etc. There’s something for everyone.

Where do your children go to school?

Ella is a first grader at Quarton. Frankie is in young 5s at West Maple Preschool.

What’s your favorite family activity in the area (pre COVID and post COVID)? During COVID our favorite thing to do besides jigsaw puzzles was going on walks at Cranbrook through the trails and climbing the big trees. Pre-COVID on a Friday night you could usually find us at the mall eating at the kids’ favorite restaurants CPK and Nordstrom Cafe, or at home for a family movie night with with the movie night must-haves: popcorn and candy.

What activities are your kids involved with? Ella is definitely a performer! She dances at Eisenhower Dance and takes piano lessons with our neighbor down the street. She’s also playing Frosty the Snowman in a small play with some other kids her age in Bloomfield. Frankie is ALL boy. He loves to play Lacrosse and this year he played with Warrior Lacrosse. The rest of the time he’s usually climbing his favorite tree in our backyard or digging for worms.

We are so impressed with FLAG (Front Line Appreciation Group)! Tell us everything! 

   

FLAG (Front Line Appreciation Group) was started by myself and 5 other local moms back in March at the beginning of the stay at home order. Most of us were friends through the neighborhood. Our team is made up of the following amazing women: Monica Toomey, Dani Gillman, Lauren Edgell, Laura O’Brien, Claire South, and Linda Scheidemantel. During a time when so many of us were feeling helpless, we wanted to focus our energy and make a difference. We had heard of the original FLAG that was started in New Jersey and thought we could replicate it here. We started a Facebook group to collect donations. We initially thought we would just support 2-3 local hospitals, but soon we saw our reach and what were able to achieve so we opened it up to all of Metro Detroit. Now we’ve raised over $385,000 and delivered 54,000 meals to 43 hospitals and 18 subacute care facilities across Southeast Michigan. In turn, we were able to support 103 local restaurants during the challenging time when many of their businesses were barely hanging on. We took a hiatus late summer/early fall, but now that hospitalizations are up and restaurants are closed for indoor dining, we are back at work collecting donations and using those to support the front line hospital staff and local restaurants. FLAG is a completely volunteer-driven operation. All funds raised go to providing meals to the front line.

How can someone donate to FLAG? 

Please check out the FLAG Metro Detroit Facebook page if you haven’t already, and our website at flagmetrodetroit.org. We aim to continue delivering meals to the front line as long as the need is there, so please support the cause if you can. If you’re thinking of a year-end donation, this would be a great way to help and it’s tax deductible.

Instagram: @flag_metrodetroit

Facebook: FLAG (Front Line Appreciation Group)  Metro Detroit

Website: Flagmetrodetroit.org/donate

 

You’re a busy mom! Any tips on how you manage mom life?

I don’t know if I have any tips to give, but I’ll take any that you have! Like so many parents out there I’m just taking it day by day, as we never know what the next day is going to throw at us, especially in this crazy year of 2020. Setting boundaries is something I’m really focusing on this year for myself, and now with virtual learning, for my daughter as well. This means not putting too much pressure on myself and my kids to please others and be “perfect”. When I see Ella getting stressed about virtual learning I tell her let’s just take a break and do something else for a while. I feel we have to do what works best for each individual child in this unusual learning situation. We know how isolated and frustrated we all have felt in the last 9 months as adults, so I can only imagine how much harder it is for their little hearts and minds to understand. If I’ve learned anything this year, it’s that life is uncertain, and we have to learn to let go of that desire to control things.

 

     

Do you have any hobbies?

I love decorating. When we built our house I was very involved in every aspect. I designed it, and picked out every detail on my own. Now that that project is complete, I like to work on things on a smaller scale. I like to refinish furniture that I find at garage sales or on Faceboook listings. My favorite project was the playhouse I built for my kids. I used a basic kit, but painted each piece to match our own home and then assembled it on my own. (See photo attached).

Thank you Lindsay for sharing your mom life with us, and for being a leader in our community!

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