Welcome to the inaugural column of Faith Happenings, where we will highlight the happenings at Faith Maternity Care, located in the heart of Callaway County! Our intention is to keep our community informed of all the phenomenal happenings for our moms. Faith Maternity Care exists to serve women who choose to carry their babies to full-term, by providing a home for expectant mothers, along with community client services for mothers who already have a place to call home. We provide a path out of poverty through faith-centered resources; nutrition and balanced meal planning; educational opportunities, including high school and higher education needs; parenting classes; and Bible study. In fact, we provided more than 75,000 diapers for our precious babes this past calendar year alone!
On April 18, Faith Maternity Care was blessed immensely, when members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Fulton selected us as their community project during their annual Missouri District 'Time to Shine' community volunteer event. Their goal was to enhance our home's aesthetic appeal and extend love to our moms who are choosing a new life. Along with donating lumber, soil, mulch, and plants, a talented team of gardeners from the church spent the day building and planting raised garden beds for vegetables. Their team worked with happy hearts while reworking our mailbox and flagpole beds, along with lots of weeding, mulching, and relocating huge rocks. St. Paul's Lutheran Church generously donated two beautiful planters, filled with palms and flowers, that presently surround our welcoming front door area. Abby Heaton oversaw the landscape and gardening projects, while Reverend Marty Hasz led prayers for our mom's ministry. Reverend Hasz also grabbed some tools and pitched in, with Pastor Chris Heaton and several church members, to assist with miscellaneous projects. Our Faith Maternity Care team and mothers were ecstatic to receive the gift of this priceless project, along with fostering new friendships in our community.
Another exciting community collaboration is with the Callaway Chamber of Commerce. Our moms recently participated in the Dream Big ~ Career Day, where we experienced our first tour of local banks. This day was wonderful, as our moms were excited, professionally dressed, and very engaged. Future endeavors with the Callaway Chamber of Commerce include partnering with business leaders for apprenticeships and internship opportunities.
Finally, Faith Maternity Care is excited to expand our Baby Bottle Drive Campaign that runs from Mother's Day to Father's Day. Baby bottles are distributed to our neighbors at Mother's Day, then returned filled with monetary donations at Father's Day. We are currently seeking volunteers to become their church's link. The church link assists with picking up empty baby bottles, helping to distribute print materials, and returning the filled bottles to us at the end of the campaign. Please reach out to Shelley Knight at [email protected] for additional information. As we have discovered, faith always finds a way.
Contributors: Jennifer Books is the Faith Maternity Care board president, and Shelley Knight is the executive director.