A Louisiana pregnancy center assisted by Heartbeat International’s Life Launch Grant is receiving ample community support, helping the center, which opened more than three years ago, to provide necessary items like diapers and other materials for moms and facilitate growth.
Opelousas Pregnancy Center has received support from community residents, businesses, and churches since its opening, and the center has now grown into a larger space.
A Diaper Drive, hosted by an online publication, took place in February, and since then, school and youth groups have also stepped up to assist the center help pregnant women and moms of toddlers.
After the pregnancy center posted on social media its need for diapers, the internet newsletter for parents and families Macaroni KID Acadia-St. Landry offered to help. The publishers of the newsletter asked the local police department and a supermarket to serve as collection sites. Within a few weeks, Opelousas Pregnancy Center not only received diapers, but also additional baby-and-mom items.
“As a MacKID publisher, we serve our local communities as a resource for families in many areas, providing information on local events, family-friendly activities and parenting,” publisher Courtney Jennings explained. “I feel that support should also carry on to help families in need.”
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“This allows us to make sure these moms get the diapers they need for their babies,” Opelousas Pregnancy Center Operations Manager April Sharp told Pregnancy Help News.
“There were all different sizes,” Sharp said, “and we always run out of certain sizes – I think every center probably experiences that.”
“For now, we have diapers to give our moms as they come in,” she said. “That's one of the things they get regularly as they come in for every appointment.”
Another diaper drive took place in early February and was hosted by the Pediatric Group of Acadiana in the Lafayette area.
In addition to these local diaper drives, other groups gathered materials and collected funds for the pregnancy help organization.
A Catholic school conducted a baby item drive before Easter, two local elementary schools also hosted materials donations, and, also in February, a church youth group raised money from a bake sale and contributed those funds to the center. Two area churches also hosted baby bottle boomerangs and another raised money from a bake sale, resulting in more than $4,000 donated to the center from those endeavors.
Community support vital to pregnancy help
Located northwest of Baton Rouge and north of Lafayette along Interstate 49, the community’s pregnancy center opened in August 2020, after receiving a Life Launch Grant from Heartbeat International.
Heartbeat International is the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the U.S. and the world, and its Life Launch Grant Program supports new pregnancy help center start-ups, with a focus on under-served communities.
“Start-up organizations rely on the support of their communities to take root,” said Sara Dominguez, who mentored the center as Life Launch Grant Special and now is Heartbeat’s Affiliate Services Specialist. “Through the years, Heartbeat International has witnessed small groups of individuals blossom into thriving teams of staff and volunteers ensuring the presence and growth of pregnancy help within their communities for years to come."
Community support was also vital to the start of Opelousas Pregnancy Center, as the community banded together to support the establishment of a pregnancy help center after an abortionist decided to open a clinic in there.
That support the pregnancy help center continues in big-picture ways as well.
Opelousas Pregnancy Center recently moved to a new, larger location, and on March 14, the staff and volunteers hosted an open house in partnership with the Opelousas Chamber of Commerce. The event included a ribbon-cutting and facility tours.
The extra space is a blessing, Sharp told Pregnancy Help News.
“We have more room, and we can have more programs and more attendance,” she said. “I also have a specifically designated room that I call the gathering room where we do our training, our classes, and our prayer time, and we're not on top of each other. I'm able to expand our mentoring program, too – we went from two mentors to four.”
April event and more connect community and center
Assistance from the community is multi-faceted. Community involvement includes volunteers. More than 30 people give their time, assisting the two paid staff with day-to-day operations as well as events.
“That in itself is a testimony [to community support],” Sharp said.
The Opelousas Pregnancy Center offers limited obstetrical ultrasounds performed by volunteer nurses, she added.
One of the center’s large annual events is set for April 20, bringing the community together again to support the organization’s work.
GEAUX The Extra Mile is a 5K/1-mile fun-run through town, beginning and ending at South City Park. A Life Festival takes place afterward, featuring music, food, and beverages. This is an annual, family-friendly fundraiser for the center, Sharp said.
“We have games for the kids and just a lot of fun stuff,” she said.
“We started to be established in 2020 and we were a baby then,” said Sharp, “but we’ve been moving on so we’re at the toddler stage now, and we’re continuing to grow and expand.”
Community support valuable, crucial
To Sharp’s delight, the March open house brought many people to the center.
“I've heard nothing but positive feedback from it,” she said.
“They really love being able to see what we're doing with these moms and how we're supporting them in the community,” said Sharp. “And being able to come in and feel that warmth and that love we give each of these moms – they felt that too when they came in. It's just great being able to share all that [with the community].”
"Communities across the globe are experiencing the value of life-affirming pregnancy care and are rising up to support their efforts,” Heartbeat’s Dominguez said.
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The value of community assistance is immeasurable, not only for the operation and longevity of pregnancy help, but also for pregnant women and moms who need services and programs, Sharp said.
“We need the community to know that we're here and about the services that we offer,” she said, “because what if it was somebody in their family? What if it was their child, their niece or sister?”
“What we're doing here is not only helping moms but we're also saving lives,” said Sharp. “We never know who may need our services, so it's very important that the community knows where to send someone. Also financially supporting what we do here because without the financial support, we would not be able to offer our services for free.”
“We are growing, and that is definitely God's Providence and the community's help,” she added. “We're going to be here for a long time, Lord willing. We're being the hands and feet of Christ.”
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.
