The Women’s Hope Medical Clinic is celebrating its 25th anniversary today, commemorating its 25 years of service by hosting a community-wide celebration event at its clinic at 820 Stage Road from 3-6 p.m.
Tours of the clinic will be offered, which will offer a glimpse of what the clinic does
Also, door prizes will be given away every half hour.
The prizes will include a football autographed by coach Tommy Tuberville and various gifts from Spa Auburn, Wood You Furniture, Indian Pines Golf
Course, Heartstrings, Ellie and more from businesses throughout the community.
“We started out 25 years ago in a very small office on Glenn Avenue,” said Larry Webb, executive director of the clinic. “We’ve grown tremendously since that time. We’ve outgrown two other locations, and five years ago, we built our current facility to enable us to accommodate the rapidly growing need for our services.”
Bethany Kirby, publicity coordinator, said she has been planning this event for several months.
“Our theme for the entire year is ‘Leave a Legacy,’ which communicates the difference we’ve made in people’s lives over the past 25 years,” Kirby said.
The non-profit organization has been serving the community by offering all of its services free of charge to anyone who may need them.
The clinic staff offers pregnancy testing and limited prenatal care, ultrasound services, parenting classes and childbirth education classes.
The clinic also offers both testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and infections.
“I feel good about the fact that we’ve been here for 25 years to be a source of help for college students who may not have known where their help would come from,” Webb said.
Janet Wadsworth, a client advocate for the clinic, has been working with Women’s Hope Medical Clinic since its doors opened to the public on Feb. 14, 1983.
Wadsworth said she plans to remain with them for the foreseeable future.
“My work here is very rewarding to me,” Wadsworth said. “I love being there. It’s been a great joy to work with these women and men, share with them up-to-date and accurate information, and inform them of the services available through the Women’s Hope Medical Clinic.”
The clinic’s success is not just by chance or coincidence.
“We’ve been successful because we’ve been able to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of young women and men in unplanned pregnancy,” Webb said. “Another way we’ve been successful is we’ve quadrupled the number of clients, and we’ve also doubled our budget in the last seven years from churches, individuals and civic clubs.”
Webb said the clinic is here for a reason and said it will remain here in the future to provide the community with free services.
“I feel we’ll be here for many years to come because of the rapid growth we’ve had over the last 25 years,” Webb said. “And, also, because of the wonderful support we receive from the Auburn-Opelika community.”
