Our Mission

Our mission at the Mothers' Milk Bank at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center is to meet an important national health need by collecting, processing and distributing donor human milk.

Our Vision

The Mothers' Milk Bank at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center will be a leader in advancing the use of donor human milk to improve the quality of human life.

About Mothers' Milk Bank

The Mothers’ Milk Bank, located at Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California, is a licensed tissue bank that has been providing service for nearly 30 years.  As a charter member of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, the Mothers' Milk Bank has been a leader in this endeavor.  Since 1974, over 4000 donors have provided over 1.5 million ounces of milk to the tiniest of premature infants, babies and toddlers who are failing to thrive, or have life-threatening diseases or conditions, and children who have failing immune systems or catastrophic diseases to endure.

Donor milk offers all of the benefits of human milk for the infant or child, including optimal nutrition, easy digestibility, growth factors to promote maturation and healing of tissues, immunologic protection and infection-fighting components.  For some children this is the only source of nutrition that allows them to grow and develop without allergic symptoms.  In the past 30 years, there has never been a documented disease or illness transmisson through processed human milk.

The processed human milk is dispensed only by physician prescription or by hospital purchase order.  Information is provided on the use of the milk.  There is a processing and transport fee charged for receiving processed milk.

Our Guiding Values

• We believe in the importance of breast-feeding for all infants.
• We are dedicated to educating both the medical community and the general community about the importance of human donor milk.
• We believe in research to enhance the knowledge of human donor milk benefits.
• We are dedicated to continuous improvement in the processes that allow us to serve our clients.
• We recognize and appreciate the importance of volunteers and donors to the success of our organization.
• We value independence from commercial influence and are dedicated to operating as a non-profit organization.
• We value coordination and collaboration with other organizations with common interests.
• We recognize the importance of community support.