ORANGE, Texas — A Leadership Southeast Texas team from the class of 2021 raised more than $6,500 to build a storage building for Birthright, a non-profit in Orange that aids women facing unplanned pregnancy.
Pecan Acres Baptist Church of Vidor donated $6,000 to the cause and Wellspring Credit Union donated $500, allowing the group to hire On-Site Sheds of Vidor to construct the building. A local electrician also donated parts and labor to the project.
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A check presentation of $1,000 also took place at the grand reveal.
Individuals in the LSET leadership program are assigned to county teams to complete service projects benefitting their community.
Orange County Team #1, consisting of Laura Roberts, Dr. Wendy Elmore, Dr. Travis Maines and Kevin King, chose to help the Birthright International in Orange with their project.
Initially, the team believed that a drive to collect baby supplies would best benefit Birthright, but team leader Laura Roberts wanted to complete a project that would leave a lasting impact on the community.
The team met with Clara Fults, assistant director at Birthright, to assess the organization’s needs.
“When we got this building on Strickland (Drive), where we presently are we knew it was going to be small. We just started to grow rapidly,” Fults said.
When Roberts asked Fults about the possibility of putting a storage building behind the business, she said Birthright couldn’t afford it. Roberts explained that her team would raise the funds to build one.
“That just totally shocked me that someone was willing to give us a building that we could enlarge the amount of items we have for these babies. No one has ever offered anything that great to us,” Fults said.
The new building will allow more space for Birthright to prep gift bags of baby items for clients as well as keep diapers and other baby supplies that before had to be stored at local churches.
“We have been told by various workers at Birthright how very thankful they are, but we are the ones with the simple task, the non-profit workers are the real heroes," Roberts said.
The non-profit will also now be able to expand its mission and begin offering maternity clothing, allowing them to continue to impact expectant mothers all across Southeast Texas.
“We want to continue to see Birthright grow, so that every girl that gets pregnant knows about us and that we’re going to be there for them,” Fults said.
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