Pregnancy Center to open Monday

The Alleghany Pregnancy Care Center will finally open its doors at 85 Doctor's Street on Monday, Sept. 18. The center was first announced in September 2005 and was first expected to open in January, but delays in funding, finding a location and building repair have all worked together to push back the opening until now.

The center will offer a number of free and confidential services, including pregnancy tests, prenatal and beyond education programs, referrals to medical care, community services, adoption and maternity homes, an abstinence program, information for unplanned pregnancies and a post-abortion healing program. In addition, the center will offer a birthing class and a parenting program for parents of children ages 2 to 12.

Marie Carlson, who has spearheaded the project and now serves as interim director, said she was hoping that the center's planned trademark, a blue awning on the entrance, would be in place in time for the opening. "I've now been told that we will not get that until next Tuesday," she said.

The center will feature a reception area, a counseling room and office space. Carlson is currently working to train staff members. Carlson said the center will be open on Monday and Thursday from noon until 5 p.m. and on Tuesday from 2 p.m. until 7 pm. It may be reached by telephone at 372-7844.

As for the delays in opening, Carlson said working with volunteers to get the needed work done, a bad furnace and inclement weather over the winter have all caused delays.

"We are very pleased to finally be able to offer this much-needed service here in Alleghany," Carlson said. "We got all the work done with volunteer help—we had to do it when they were available." In addition to volunteers putting in plumbing and electrical wiring, she said that three church groups also helped: the Baptist Brotherhood, Savannah Methodist Church and Little Pine Church of the Brethren. In addition, Dave Carpenter's carpentry class from Alleghany High School helped frame some of the interior walls.

The basement-level space was basically emptied of contents and stripped to the bare studs before being renovated, a process that took several months to complete. "The center looks very nice and all the volunteers did a great job," she said. "We appreciate everyone who donated their time, finances and other things to help this vision to become a reality."

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