ARC Pregnancy Support Center of Russell Springs, Ky., has just celebrated the opening of its new facility.
At approximately 4,000 square feet ARC Pregnancy Support Center’s new building is about double the size of the former center. It includes a garage for donation drop offs, counseling room, office space, and a full kitchen.
Before a large crowd at the June ribbon cutting Russel Springs Mayor Eddie Thomas and City Councilman Gary Frost presented a deed for land adjacent to the center for possible future expansion. The Russell Springs City Council approved the sale of the land for $1 earlier this year to allow the pregnancy help center the opportunity for future growth and expansion.
[Click here to subscribe to Pregnancy Help News!]
Thomas said the city is fortunate to have the center because it serves three local counties; Adair, Russell, and Casey (hence the ARC acronym in the name).
The groundbreaking for the new center was held just over a year ago, following appeals to the community for donors of money, labor, and building materials. The previous center building was in a very old building that had become run down.
Not long ago a 19-year-old girl came to the center, having just moved to the area with a 3-year-old and a 2-year-old and having just placed a newborn baby for adoption. The young woman came in for diapers and clothes. Obviously impacted and grateful for the support, the client shared with ARC Pregnancy Support Center Director Geraldine Johnson that she wished she’d come to the center sooner.
“One day when she was there she started crying and when I asked her what was wrong, she looked at me and said, ‘I wish I had moved here before I had my baby because I wouldn’t have had to give her up because I know you would’ve helped me.”
Another young woman and her husband started coming to the center when their little girl was about a year-old. Then when she found herself pregnant, she said she couldn’t go through with the pregnancy because there was abuse in the relationship and she was considering abortion. With counseling and support, this mother decided to have her baby and went to live with her mother out of state.
Tweet This: The city of Russell Springs, Ky is fortunate to have ARC Pregnancy Support Center because it serves three local counties.
Johnson shared that drugs are a problem in the area, and that drug court sometimes refers young parents to the center for parenting classes. The court has strict requirements for a parent to even be considered for reunification with their child after the child has been removed because of drug use; Clients take the parenting classes free of charge and are given a certificate to present to the drug court.
One devoted volunteer is Betty, who at 91, continues to come in every day to sort baby clothes and check donated items. Another regular volunteer is Evie, who Johnson describes as her “right arm.”
Regular fundraising comes through churches and an annual baby bottle campaign.
Other services include post-abortion counseling, Bible classes, and financial counseling.
Johnson said clients have often raved over the center’s offerings.
ARC Pregnancy Support Center serves thousands of people each year in Russell, Adair, and Casey counties.
