Looking Out For Babies Infant Needs Network Provides The Basics For The Youngest Members Of Needy Families

Holly Gourneau, 23, is raising three children ranging in age from 1 to 5 years old.

While her oldest child combed the aisles of clothes, more for fun than anything else, Gourneau was stocking up on her supply of baby food for the month.

This is a typical scene at the Mission Community Outreach Center in central Spokane.

The Outreach Center, at 1906 E. Mission, provides free clothing for adults and children. In May, it opened the Infant Needs Network, a program that provides baby formula, diapers, shoes, bedding, cribs, cradles, car seats and high chairs for families with infants in need.

“If you’re on welfare and you can’t buy this stuff it helps out that they have this,” Gourneau said.

All the provisions are donated by the public and are free to those who qualify. For example, a family of three must take home after taxes and deductions less than $1,575 a month to use the Infant Needs Network.

The Outreach Center serves from 30 to 60 people a day, targeting those in the area from Division to Pines and Lidgerwood to 16th Avenue, said John Heffernan, senior volunteer.

Even though the center’s tables are piled with clothes, donations are always needed to keep a variety of sizes on hand. According to volunteers, the new infant program needs donations of disposable diapers, high chairs and cribs.

The center is also in need of more volunteers. Because of the low number of volunteers and limited donations, the center is affectionately known as the Fish and Loaf Agency by some volunteers, said Walt Shields, Executive Director of the Mission Outreach Center.

Patrons of the Infant Needs Network can get a one-month supply of baby formula as long as they qualify and as long as supplies last. But patrons shouldn’t worry about the program running out of formula because national formula companies keep the shelves stocked.

Shields urged that those who receive donations do not turn around and sell them. All the names of the people who use the outreach center are entered into a computer when they first apply for assistance. Volunteers use the computer to keep track of how much formula each client takes.

“If (donations) are sold, the national programs won’t donate and that will kill the whole program,” Shields said.

In addition to the baby clothes and infant needs, the Outreach Center also provides necessity bags that contain bath soap, deodorant, shampoo and other necessities that cannot be purchased with food stamps.

On Aug. 24 the Outreach Center will provide school supplies for elementary school children.

Last year 500 students received school supplies, which are given away on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The center was one of the first 50 sites in the nation designated for the Infant Needs Network, a division of Larry Jones International Ministries Inc., Feed the Children Program.

The Infant Needs Network is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1:30 to 5 p.m.

For more information on volunteering, donating, or receiving donations call Walt Shields at (509) 536-1084.