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Store brings new hope
Bargain Boutique will support pregnancy clinic
Whispering Hope 5 es
Jordan Venson, seen in a beauty-case mirror, puts price tags on items. - photo by Emily Saunders
If you’re going

The Bargain Boutique will be open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. except Mondays and Tuesdays starting this Wednesday through May 8. The store is at 765 McFarland Parkway, Suite E, in the strip mall by the Citgo. Call (770) 619-3446 for more information or visit www.whisperinghope.org.
As Marianne Bernard put price tags on baby clothes, she reflected on how selling them would help babies and new mothers.

“To save one baby, it’s worth it,” she said. “That’s why I’m here, to save the babies.”

Bernard, a member of First Redeemer Church, is volunteering her time with an upscale resale boutique that will benefit Whispering Hope, a local women’s resource and pregnancy center.

The Bargain Boutique will be open to the public for four weeks beginning Wednesday, with new merchandise appearing on the floor as other items are sold, said Jackie Batson, shop director.

Everything from a wedding dress in the “fancy room,” down to a candle holder shaped like a toilet can be found at the sale.

“Somebody that wants to come in and shop is going to have some really great finds,” Batson said.

Some new donated items, such as purses and Okabashi shoes, are also being sold at discounted rates.

More than anything, though, are items that will help out mommies, including three racks of maternity clothes, several others lined with baby clothes and a window filled with children’s toys.

Some of the items came from the overflow of generosity to the mommy store at Whispering Hope, where clients of the non-profit can use “mommy points” from classes to pick out things they need.

“That really spurred the idea for the store,” Batson said. “Vicky [Clair] had so many donations and she really couldn’t handle them all so we figured ‘why not have a huge sale for the public?’”

The money will come full circle, since whatever is raised will go toward buying things like diapers, formula and cribs and funding educational programs, said Clair, vice president of Whispering Hope.

“We would like to raise at least $30,000,” she said.

Added Batson: “That’s a lot of onesies.”

The nonprofit doesn’t get any government funding or help from other community organizations, Clair said. All operating expenses come entirely from donations from individuals and churches or fundraisers like this one.

Whispering Hope offers help to any pregnant women or new mothers who need it, including counseling, testing and education.

The center has been open since 1995, and qualifies as a medical clinic since a nurse is on staff. The organization also has its own ultrasound machine, something Clair said has helped the nonprofit with its 98 percent rate of pregnant clients who keep their unborn children.
“We’re saving babies. We’re saving lives,” she said. “These girls, a lot of them have no other place to go to.”