Pictured, from left, are Brad Kimbro, WEC chief operating officer; Steve Loveland, president of Wiregrass Hope Group board of directors; Jeremiah Dalton, director of counseling at Wiregrass Hope Group; Myra Johnson Update Bell, secretary of Operation Round Up board of trustees; Amy Edge, executive director of Wiregrass Hope Group; Susan Bailey, vice president of Operation Round Up board of trustees; Tiffany Coleman, counselor at Wiregrass Hope Group; and David Hall, president of Operation Round Up board of trustees.
Start of a new life Wiregrass Hope guides women through unplanned pregnancies When a woman needs help coping with an unplanned pregnancy, Wiregrass Hope Group steps in to provide aid. The nonprofit organization in Dothan offers free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, as well as a nine-step parenting program that guides the parents through the pregnancy. Those who complete the program receive a car seat. Wiregrass Electric Cooperative’s Operation Round Up Charitable Foundation recently donated $9,000 to Wiregrass Hope Group to help the organization purchase car seats. “This is such a great organization that is really helping young women in our area when they are in need,” says WEC Chief Operating Officer Brad Kimbro. “We applaud everything they are doing, and we know they will continue to do great work for our community.” Amy Edge, who has worked with Wiregrass Hope Group for three years, was named the executive director in 2017. She said the donation from Operation Round Up will be enough to purchase car seats for the next two years. 42 JANUARY 2019
“Knowing that we have our clients pro- Amy Edge, executive director of vided for is huge,” Edge says. “Wiregrass Wiregrass Hope Group, shows the Operation Round Up board how Hope Group is supported by the people of they organize each client's file. the Wiregrass, and we couldn’t do what we do without donations. We are so grateful In addition to caring for the mother, the to Wiregrass Electric’s members for this organization offers a fatherhood program donation.” to help guide the father through the pregnancy. “Healthy families are critical to our sociA helping hand Wiregrass Hope Group opened in 1984, ety,” Edge says. “We’re helping this female when it was known as Sav-A-Life. In addi- process a lot of decisions. She’s going to be tion to a parenting program and a charac- a new mother, and we help her process all ter and relationship education program, of that. We are helping to prepare her for this crucial time in her life and the start of they also provided biblical counseling. After moving to its current location on this child’s life.” In addition to the car seat, the mother Westgate Parkway in Dothan in 2003, the name was changed to Wiregrass Hope earns points each time she visits Wiregrass Group. In 2004, the organization began Hope Group, and those points can be used offering ultrasounds and a fatherhood in the baby boutique, which has donated program. Also, it began a post-abortive baby clothes, blankets and toys. “To see the baby come back with the and pregnancy loss Bible study. The goal of Wiregrass Hope Group is to mother, and it’s well cared for, is very guide the mother through the pregnancy gratifying,” Edge says. “You sat with that and to prepare her for life after the baby is mom 40 weeks earlier, and they said they born. They also can help guide the mother couldn’t do this. Now, you are seeing a prethrough the adoption if they feel like they cious baby in a car seat that’s completely taken care of.” n can’t care for the baby. www.alabamaliving.coop