Hands of Hope Pregnancy Services opened its doors on March 1st in Paulding across from the hospital. The public is invited to an Open House at the new office in the Samaritan Center on West Wayne Avenue, on Thursday, June 27, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. The Chamber of Commerce will be there to do a Ribbon Cutting and the Board and Staff will give tours of the East wing of the building.
The medical building was acquired by Youth For Christ in 2012 and the vision for a pregnancy center in Paulding County became a reality. Doug Roop, the YFC staff members in Paulding County serves as the building manager. The steering committee had met several times last fall, and plans were made to have the center become incorporated as a non-profit, Christian-based, social service agency and apply for its 501c3. That has recently been approved and the tax exempt status is retroactive to the date of incorporation which was October 22, 2012. The center is funded totally by contributions and is eager to build up its donors based of individuals, families, churches, and local businesses associates.
In the two months of being open, one client has already had her baby and received gifts of baby items along with “buying” the items with the Baby Bucks that she had earned for the Baby Store by taking educational classes at Hands of Hope. Others have begun taking several of the 60-80 available class topics, such as infant and child development, child safety, alcohol and substance abuse effects on pregnancy, healthy relationships, and many other important topics for parenting. They earn points for each class attended, and double points if they bring a support person, a male or female, to learn with them, in preparation for “buying” a new crib or a car seat, or other new baby items. They remain active clients throughout their pregnancies, and keep earning points for diapers and other baby items through classes and other incentive programs. Hands of Hope will service the moms and their babies until the child’s 1st birthday. The program is not a hand-out, but a hand-up so that the clients will gain self-worth while they learn proper parenting and other life skills. Donations of baby items and money for new cribs and car seats are needed and Hands of Hope welcomes community members to assist in providing the necessary items for those clients. Receipts are given for all charitable contributions for tax purposes.
Hands of Hope provides free pregnancy testing, guidance and material assistance for pregnant women and teens, and also post abortion support for anyone who requests it. Referrals are given for medical or legal advice, also to WIC and other service agencies, and for adoption. In the future, they intend to offer free first trimester ultrasounds and nurse consultations under the direction of a medical director. The center is open on Friday s from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. for walk-ins or by appointment. The Director of Client Services, Malinda Ricker, is on staff and several volunteers have been trained to serve as receptionists and client support at Hands of Hope. Please call 419-399-2447 for more information or to request a volunteer application or send an email to clientservices@handsofhopepaulding.com
