Partnering to Meet the Needs of Expectant Mothers and Families
The Pregnancy and Family Life Center (PFLC) picks up food, personal care and hygiene items from the Community Food Bank of Citrus County (CFBCC) twice a week to help stock their pantry. The organization has been providing food, clothing, personal care items, counseling, and medical services to expectant mothers and families throughout Citrus County since 1983 and has served a record number of people so far this year:
January 2020 – July 2020
629 Families Served
1627 Individuals Served
28,805 Pounds of Food Distributed
15,000 Diapers Distributed
403 Packages of Baby Wipes Distributed
328 Bottles of Baby Wash Distributed
113 Cans of Baby Formula Distributed
“The partnership between the Pregnancy and Family Life Center and the Community Food Bank allows us to purchase much needed food for our families,” explains Stephanie Bell, RN, executive director of the PFLC. “We serve at risk children and families with a large majority of them being pregnant mothers. The food we provide takes some of the stress off our moms and allows them to breathe a little. We have been able to offer a large variety of food items consistently. We could not afford to do what we do without the generosity of the CFBCC and their caring and dedicated staff.”
Bell especially appreciates the fact that the team at the CFBCC is always accommodating and makes an effort to locate items she needs.
“All I have to do is ask and they find it for us,” says Bell. “We have started putting together meal kits each month incorporating items we have in our food pantry for our mothers and when I need extra food they help out. Candice (CFBCC Warehouse Assistant) always makes a point to save diapers and formula for us because she knows we have clients that are in need.”
According to Bell, individuals and families served by the PFLC are extremely grateful for the services they receive. A client who asked to remain anonymous wrote:
“The Pregnancy and Family Life Center is important to my family because they provide many helpful resources and information. They have benefitted myself and family as far as helpful videos so parents can learn new things. Also, the food and clothing is very helpful to our family. With everything going on with the virus and not working as much we have help with making sure our family has food.”
Barbara Sprague, executive director of the CFBCC, says that knowing she and her staff are making such an impact is truly a blessing.
“We do what we do because we are passionate about making sure no one in our community goes without,” explains Sprague. “We are selective about the organizations we partner with because we must be good stewards of the donations we receive. Stephanie and her team at PFLC do exemplary work and provide much needed services to individuals and families in need.”
“The CFBCC is an organization that we rely heavily upon and they have never let us down,” says Bell. “When there’s a crisis or hurricane they’ve made sure our needs and those of our clients have been met. In addition to food, they have provided items such as diapers, makeup, toiletries, children’s books, clothing etc. All of this is passed down to our families. They are a blessing on so many levels!”
If you would like to learn more about PFLC and all of the important resources and services they provide, please visit www.pflcenter.org.
