MACHIAS, Maine — The We Care Baby Center, which helps families with young children make ends meet, will be opening a satellite location in Lubec in early 2016.
We Care Baby Center, located at 5 Water St., is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization that provides diapers, wipes, shoes, books, clothing and other baby items to qualified families with children under the age of 3½, said founder and director Joyce Getchell.
“Everything is free. We don’t charge for anything,” Getchell said.
The center received the Hero Agency Award from the Community Caring Collaborative for 2015.
Families qualify for goods by having either a MaineCare card or a voucher from the federal nutrition aid program Women, Infants and Children, said Getchell.
“[The center] originally started out as a diaper pantry,” she said. “That was 12 years ago.”
When she founded the center, it served only nine children. Now it serves more than 100 a month. Among them are Annalise Gallow, 3, and her sister, Willow, 1, who visited the center with their mom, Delores, on Wednesday.
“It‘s a wonderful organization,” said Delores Gallow. “Nobody really helps with children’s stuff like this place does.”
Gallow, a seasonal worker who cleans summer homes, is currently unemployed. The We Care Baby Center will help her make ends meet through the winter, she said.
“I don’t have family in this area. It’s hard to get help when you don’t have a support system,” said Gallow, a single mother from Machias.
She said she hopes to start school in January and establish a career because seasonal work allows her to get by but not to get ahead, she said.
Getchell said the center serves clients all along coastal Washington County, from Milbridge to Perry. Locating a satellite in Lubec will make it easier for people who live in the northeastern part of the county to use the service.
“It’ll be easier for people in Perry and up that way,” Getchell said.
Already she has four volunteers lined up to staff the center in Lubec, which will be located in the old high school. Another group of volunteers runs the center in Machias, which is open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.
Getchell said it costs $1,300 a month to run the Machias center and she anticipated needing another $500 to $700 to run the center in Lubec. The money comes from donations and fundraising efforts.
Although she doesn’t have any new donors lined up, she believes the expansion is the right thing to do and she is hoping the center can grow.
“We always go on faith,” she said. “This was done on faith.”
Anyone interested in volunteering or donating can call 255-8903.