Meet the First Way Staff!

Not everyone knows about our staff at First Way, Eugene. 

In addition to our director, Terry Ianora, we have a medical director, Suzanne Temple, M.D., and four registered nurses who are certified in ultrasound. We have eighteen other volunteers who meet with women, offer pregnancy tests and help each woman in her unique situation.

We also have office staff who volunteer to come in with various tasks, and girls from Marist High School come in to make layettes for women who come to our center, for after they deliver. In addition to that, volunteers come in to clean and to launder donated baby clothes.

First Way also has twelve board members. It truly takes a dedicated community such as ours to help women give their unborn children a chance at life. It also takes regular donations of diapers, bottled water and baby clothing and money.We are always looking for more volunteers, also. There is always something to do! Give us a call at 541.687.8651 if you are interested in volunteering or making a donation.

Coming up soon- Interviews with volunteers, including our nurses!

1st Way "Tour"- Lots of Layettes!

Putting together layettes is one of the most fun activities for volunteers at 1st Way to do!

A layette is a  bag with special supplies that women take to the hospital as soon as they go into labor. 1st Way gives layettes to new mothers who visited us when they were not sure if they were pregnant and who decided afterward to give birth to their babies. This is 1st Way's special way to welcome their newborn to the world. What do we put in the layettes? 

Layettes usually have the same sorts of things, if we have them in stock at any given time. As seen above, we try to include a quilt and a receiving blanket. We get some really nice blankets! The boxes on the bottom shelf contain diapers.

We include newborn diapers and wipes and little containers of baby powder and lotion. Often, we don't have baby powder and lotion. These items can be picked up for $1 each at stores like Walmart in the "travel" section. We always welcome those donations!

 

Take a look at the picture above. What you see here on the shelves are blankets. In the baskets and boxes are things like diapers, wipes, baby hats and booties. When we have baby hats and booties donated, they also go in the layettes. These are also great donations! (hint, hint!)

In addition, layettes contain several cute baby outfits. Above, you see mostly clothes for newborn girls. Layettes contain 1-2 onesies, casual outfits and a dressy outfits. The clothes are arranged by gender and type- girls clothes, clothes for either gender, and boys clothes. This is one part I really loved as a volunteer- picking out the best outfits! Also, girls from Marist High School come in to make layettes sometimes and they have a lot of fun. It's also a good way to prepare girls for one day being mothers.

To top it all off, we always include two small stuffed toys for baby. Beanie babies are especially popular, or any little toy a baby can hold, like a rattle. When we're done, we cover the bag in gift wrap paper and tie them with blue or pink ribbons.

Then, they are all ready to gift to our mothers-to-be about two months before their delivery date!

Many thanks to the many people who donated all you see in this room.

Click on the pictures to enlarge!