Greene Publishing, Inc.
A Women’s Pregnancy Center of Madison, operating on an annual budget of about $23,000 a year, applied for a little over $12,500 in money from the “Choose Life” license plate program at the July 6th meeting of the County Commission. The money had been accumulating for several years from license plates purchased in Madison County, but no agency or organization had applied for it until A Woman’s Pregnancy Center came forward with its request.
This was also the first year the Pregnancy Center had applied for money from a state or county government entity, or any other kind of public money; it was also the last year that the Center could apply for these particular funds from the county. Next fiscal year, due to a change in legislation, the state will take over dispensing the funds collected by the “Choose Life” license plates, disbursing them to programs all over Florida.
The Center, a non-profit organization with locations in Tallahassee and Marianna, as well as Madison, has been operating here since 2007. It is funded by private donations, primarily from area churches, and aided by volunteer staff who keep the Center open 23 hours a week.
As the only agency in the county that offers free prenatal sonograms for women facing crisis pregnancies, the center saw 120 clients last year, providing them with counseling, information, diapers and baby beds, and offering support services through the first six months of the child’s life. All services are free and all information about the client is confidential.
Many times, help from A Woman’s Pregnancy Center “is the only kind of support (the woman) get,” said Joe Boyles, who serves on the Center’s Board of Directors, and who presented the Center’s application for the tag money to the County Commission. “We’re a Christian organization, and it’s important for us to continue to have the opportunity to spread the gospel through the love of Jesus Christ.”
The measure passed unanimously.
