7 hours Ago By By Jenny Harnish The Register-Herald
Greenbrier Pregnancy Center Co-executive Directors Michelle Hughes and Jacqueline Dudley first began discussing the need for a pregnancy center during their quilt group. They formed a steering committee and began meeting officially in February of 2023. By June they had their nonprofit status and business license approved.
“The ball just kept rolling,” Dudley said. “We found this place at the beginning of April and we were able to move in at the end of April, 2024.” On Saturday they celebrated the grand opening of the Greenbrier Pregnancy Center in Fairlea, although they have been seeing clients since July.
The center offers a range of services for pregnant women and families serving Greenbrier, Pocahontas, Monroe and Summers Counties. “Our biggest thing right now is peer support,” Hughes said. “They really enjoy the peer counseling because they want someone they can talk to.
We also have a man that does peer support for fathers and is doing a fatherhood initiative with our dads.” They offer referrals for OBG-YN practitioners, job placement and housing. Clients can enjoy private rooms equipped with TVs to watch educational videos around topics such as parenting, child development, pregnancy stages, birth process, budgeting, and fathering in both English and Spanish.
The center is also in the process of attaining an ultrasound machine and technician and will soon be offering licensed professional counseling services at no cost. To incentivize participation they do an “earn while you learn” program where parents are given “baby bucks” to shop in their baby boutique. The bucks are earned by attending meetings, watching educational videos and keeping doctors appointments and referrals.
The parents can select from maternity outfits, baby cloths, car seats and much more. “Every time they come they get formula, diapers and wipes for free,” said Hughes. “We offer options counseling,”said Dudley.
“We want them to carry to term but we do offer the truth and the facts about what happens with abortion. Abortion is not legal in WV, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. That means that they’re going across state lines or they’re ordering abortion pills.
Unfortunately a lot of times those abortion pills come with no information at all,” Dudley said. Dudley said they offer post-abortion counseling, and that no-one is turned away. “If they choose to have an abortion and they come back we don’t turn them away.
” They also offer adoption services referrals. “We’re all about choices, and it’s their choice,” We’re here to help the family and we’ll see the mom and baby up until the child is two.”.
