The Pregnancy Care Center of Plant City received hundreds of donations on Monday from the St. Clement Knights of Columbus.
Christmas came early for the Pregnancy Care Center of Plant City when over 300 items were donated by the St. Clement Knights of Columbus Monday morning.
Donned in Santa hats, the knights unloaded a giant U-Haul full of items they had collected from a charity drive at St. Clement Catholic Church. Diapers, car seats, bottles, onesies and more were carefully wrapped, adorned with giant bows and brought to the center to restock its boutique.
“It’s just like Christmas for me,” Darlene Davis, director of the Pregnancy Care Center, said. “When
you’re an adult Christmas isn’t near as exciting, but this honestly makes me so happy and excited. I feel like a kid again on Christmas morning.”
This is the second year the Knights of Columbus brought Christmas in July to the center. Last year, over 200 items were donated. Andrew Bryant, one of the Knights of Council 8095, said the group plans to make the donation an annual event and said he believes it will only continue to grow as time passes.
While this is only the second year for Christmas in July, the Knights have been active with the center for years. They do an annual baby bottle campaign in October and Bryant said they plan to raise a few thousand dollars worth of coins to donate to the center this fall. He said they also were able to provide an ultrasound machine through the group’s supreme council in Connecticut.
“That’s what the Knights of Columbus do,” Bryant said. “We raise money to give it away.”
The items donated will restock the boutique offered by the center for women in the area. According to Davis, people can come to the center for free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, post abortion recovery classes, abstinence and STD education, parenting classes and Bible studies.
The center encourages people to attend the parenting classes and Bible studies offered. As an incentive, those who attend are awarded “baby bucks,” which they can then exchange for items in the boutique.
A crib, for example, will cost approximately 30 “baby bucks” and people will have the opportunity to
earn up to eight “baby bucks” a week if they attend both the parenting class and the Bible study.
“They can get anything, we have three in one cribs, mattresses, car seats, strollers, everything they need, diapers, wipes, clothing, anything a baby needs they can earn through our parenting program,” Davis said. “So this will go to lots of people. We see right now anywhere up to 500 client visits a month.”
Davis said the center serves people from Plant City and surround areas like Dover, Seffner and Thonotosassa. Parents are able to attend until the baby is a year old and continue to save up their “baby bucks” to purchase whatever items are needed.
Many of the items in the boutique are purchased by the center via grants they are awarded. However, Davis said, it does depend on donations from churches and women’s groups that help keep the shelves stocked.
