It was a year and a half ago that Moose Jaw Right for Life moved into their new space in the lower level of the First Baptist Church at 1010 Main Street North.
On Saturday afternoon, it was finally time to show off their relatively new digs to the public as a whole.
The local pro-life organization held a special open house throughout the day, with many parents and families taking advantage of the opportunity to check out what they’re all about.
And what they found might have been surprising to those not aware of MJRTL’s mission -- rack upon rack of baby clothes and other items, sorted by size and age, much like you’d find in any store of similar size.
The catch? All of it is straight-up free for the taking.
“We offer baby clothes from newborn all the way up to 24 months for parents and it’s for anybody in the community, they don’t have to be low income or anything like that, we welcome everybody,” said Amy Pryadko with Moose Jaw Right to Life. “They can come and take baby clothes and accessories and sometimes we have high chairs and furniture and stuff like that, everyone just donates to us and we just pass it along.”
The organization used to be located on Main Street near the TD Bank, but have since found their new space to be an extremely good fit -- the plenty of room to move around and far more space for inventory, it’s all worked out as well as can be.
“We’re so thankful to First Baptist for letting us be here,” Pryadko said. “We had a really small spot there and it got really crowded when we had a lot of people coming through at the same time. So there is more space for people to browse and look around and it’s a lot more comfortable.”
Plenty of folks took advantage of the open house, too, with many visitors coming through the doors right from the moment they opened.
“It’s fantastic, we’ve had a ton of people come through already, a lot of new people who haven’t been here before, so that’s really great,” Pryadko said. “We want to let people know that we’re here and it’s great to see everyone coming out.”
Now that the pandemic has largely waned, Moose Jaw Right to Life is planning to return to a more normal schedule, which sees the store and information centre open four times a month -- the first and third Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and second and fourth Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“We’ve been here for a year and a half and we’ve had tons of people come through, we had over 100 people through in the first six months, it was crazy,” Pryadko said. “With COVID things had slowed down, but now, getting the word out that we’ve moved, we’re hoping that helps bring more people in.”
Moose Jaw Right to Life is also always looking for more clothing donations, with those looking to do so asked to call ahead or message them on Facebook for a drop-off or pick-up time.
For more information on Moose Jaw Right to Life, including upcoming events and up-to-date information on pro-life issues, be sure to visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RightToLifeMooseJaw, website at www.moosejawrighttolife.ca or give them a shout at (306) 694-4111.
