ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Liberal’s Grace Place Pregnancy Care Center is in need of a permanent home, and leaders with the center are looking to purchase the building the center now calls home at 311 N. Grant.
Recent donations from two local banks pushed that dream closer to reality. Equity Bank and Golden Plains Credit Union each gave $5,000 to Grace Place, and Client Services Director Letty Hernandez said both donations, as well as some recent anonymous donations, will be applied to the purchase of the building.
“Equity Bank chose us as one of their local businesses to donate to since we’re non-profit,” she said. “That came at a perfect time.”
GPCU, Hernandez said, normally donates $1,000 annual to Grace Place, but this year’s gift increased to $5,000.
“That was a great blessing they went up that much,” she said. “We’re very grateful for both of those donations. We have other anonymous donations we’re also very blessed to have.”
Hernandez said the purchase of the building Grace Place is currently located in is the center’s number one priority at this time.
“We need a home for Grace Place, and with the help of those donations, we’re able to get closer to that goal,” she said.
Grace Place has also been looking to purchase an ultrasound, but Hernandez said that purchase has been put on hold for now.
“The funds we’ve been saving for the ultrasound we’re now having to use for the building,” she said.
Hernandez said the donations from GPCU and Equity Bank will make a big dent in the amount of funds needed to purchase the building.
“We have to keep going with the medical services we’ll provide with that ultrasound machine,” she said. “After paying our rent, there’ll be some medical salaries there. We’ll have to continue to collect funds.”
With taxes, the cost of the building is around $255,000, and with the recent donations from GPCU and Equity Bank, along with anonymous donations and those give at Grace Place’s recent annual banquet, Hernandez said the center is about $45,000 away from its goal at this time.
“The banquet helped us out tremendously,” she said. “With the banquet and other donations we received, we’re just now short $45,000. That’s a blessing.”
Naturally, Hernandez appreciated the donations.
“They see our mission,” she said of the banks. “They see the importance of the services we provide. They see how important that is. They believe it in our mission. It’s like a community working together to be able to provide these types of services that are so much needed. By them donating that money, it’s not just coming from Grace Place but the community itself.”
