Baby Boutique enjoying new expanded space for local families
(Seguin) — Now that the South Texas Pregnancy Care Center is officially open, it’s time to stock its Baby Boutique with some much-needed items.
Over the weekend, the public got the chance to tour the brand-new facility on East Kingsbury Street.
After years of operating on West Court Street, the group felt it was time to provide more elbow room for those families needing some extra guidance by the non-profit organization. Committed to supporting parents during the hurdles of having a child, the group works to outfit them with all the necessities needed to begin this new chapter in their lives.
Janice Weaver, the center’s executive director, expresses their need for donations year-round. Weaver says the group relies 100 percent on the community to help fill the shelves of its Baby Boutique.
“People can donate their gently used baby clothes, toys, books, maternity clothes. We also have a section of maternity clothes that we have that provides our clients with the things that they need,” said Weaver.
Weaver says donations, especially those diapers, are needed for newborns and toddlers.
“We take just about everything for babies that are newborn that are all the way to 24 months and one of the things that people often think about are ‘oh, pregnancy care center, new babies — we need newborn diapers, but you know what, babies stay in diapers a couple of years. So, we really need those bigger sizes. We have a lot of newborns sizes 1 and 2 in stock but we are really hurting sometimes for those 3, 4 and 5s because we have toddlers that need bigger diapers, and they are not quite potty trained yet. So, bigger diapers are things that we are often looking for,” said Weaver.
Weaver says having parents shop for the items for free in the Baby Boutique is just another way to ensure that parents have all the tools that they need.
“Our clients earn points through the educational lessons that they do. We give them points actually when they come into the center for pregnancy tests for ultrasounds but then, we want them to come back and do lessons with us. We have a whole series called Bright Course that are lessons on what is going on in your body and how to take that baby home from the hospital and how to establish routines and cleanliness and what about sickness? How do you deal with those things? We just have a ton of lessons on child development and how to take care of that baby because a lot of times, parents — this is their first experience with little ones and babies don’t come with instruction manuals. It’s always good to learn more about how to take care of a little one,” said Weaver.
Weaver says of course, having a larger and more exciting Baby Boutique space is a win-win for not only families but also for their volunteers.
“Our Baby Boutique now is four times the size of the Baby Boutique that we had before. The Koehler Company came in and built these beautiful shelves. We even have a play area for kids when they come with mom and their mom is in her shopping — a sweet little rug and some toys where they can hang out as well while mom is doing her shopping. We had storage in the old building. It was up some very narrow stairs and so we were taking donations upstairs and processing them and sorting them and sorting them by size and now, all of that is on one level. We don’t have to go up and down the stairs,” said Weaver.
Weaver says with a new building also comes a new system for accepting donations.
“There is a drive-thru on the east side of our building where they can pull in there, ring a doorbell and we will come out and get those from them and bring them in. So, they don’t even have to get out of their car. When we were talking about this building, that was one of the things that we wanted. We wanted a place where people could bring their donations and not have to go through the main front door and the lobby. In the other center, you had to walk through all the clients and the front door in order to bring in donations. But now, it’s very private,” said Weaver.
Baby donations including monetary donations can be dropped off at the pregnancy care center Mondays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon and again from 2 to 4 p.m.
The new facility is located at 1348 E. Kingsbury St.