Baby Grace is an organization that provides diapers, wipes, children’s clothing and more to families in Fulton — for free.
The Fulton chapter is run by volunteers, including Mary Osburn, Mary Powers and Rev. Carol Pierson. They recently sat down to speak about the program, which operates once a month.
For the month of December, we’re focusing on the health of those living in Fulton and Callaway County.
Mary Osburn: It started at Fort Osage School when some high school teachers had a lot of high school students that were pregnant and needed help.
So, it's a ministry that actually has at least 20 chapters, I believe, and Linda Mealy began it [in Fulton] at the Methodist Church in 2012.
We provide diapers, and we are now partnering with Capital City Diaper Bank because we were struggling to keep up with the demand of diapers.
So, we're a partner agency with them now. Once a month, I create an order, and then I go pick them up in Jefferson City and bring them back.
Wipes has become an important part of this too, because wipes are necessary for hygiene and they're expensive. They're, you know, as expensive as diapers are.
We also get donations of clothing and other items — we'll have shoes, clothing, one time we received a donation of seven cribs, and that day all seven were, you know, donated out.
So anything that parents don't use anymore that are necessary for babies — we have it there, and people can take what they need.
Mary Powers: I do see very young mothers. Also we see other family members who are taking care of the children.
Just recently we asked some of the participants if this really helped, and some of the things they said were, “This is pretty amazing. If you need help, Baby Grace can help. Other places require money. I'm so glad that the community has this.”
And another was, “This is wonderful. I'm grandma, and I'm going to tell my daughter about this.”
So, what I've also noticed is that the recipients of Baby Grace donations bring back what their children can no longer use, and they pass it along to others in the community. So, they are participants in this mission project also.
Rev. Carol Pierson: I'm new to Fulton. I moved here about a year ago, but in every place in which I've served, there’s always been within the church a family, a grandparent who is raising young children.
So, I just know how expensive diapers and wipes are, and then you throw in economic factors, such as the cost of people buying fuel for their cars to get to work with. That's another thing that they need to figure out in their budget.
I think the fact that the number of families who come to Baby Grace — it can alter month to month, maybe depending on weather — but it has increased greatly, and so, I think that suggests that there is a great need in the community.
