By Amy White
The Texas Catholic
In the Smyth Pastoral Center of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, diapers pile high, onesies crowd clothing racks, and car seats, feeding chairs, and strollers are parked nearby. The space, stocked with a cornucopia of baby items, is home to the St. Mark Baby Shop, a volunteer-led ministry at the Plano parish that provides an array of materials for families in need.
“As pastor, I’m thrilled that we have a Baby Shop,” Father Jason Cargo, pastor of St. Mark, said. “We, as a whole parish community, rally together to provide all the different supplies that a young mother needs — anything from formula to diapers to clothing and even cribs and car seats, whatever is needed; and we’re able to supply for hundreds of families every year, and every year it’s growing.”
The shop, which provides baby items to families free of charge, is open during the first and third Tuesdays of each month and every Saturday. Last year alone, it served nearly 400 families.
“To me, it’s a strong witness that we as a parish are a parish about the culture of life,” Father Cargo said, “not only about helping to prevent abortion but also supporting mothers and walking with women who are in need. The Baby Shop is that.”
‘Christ’s love’
The Baby Shop at St. Mark is a multi-room operation. As families enter the shop, they find a waiting area full of items they can freely take — from baby food and formula to shoes and socks to books and toys. An adjacent room stores a wealth of large items, like Pack ‘n Plays and feeding chairs, as well as diapers and wipes that have been donated by parishioners at drop boxes in the parish office and narthex. A third room operates as a space for volunteers to sort baby clothes by sex and size.
Jackie Lopez, who has volunteered with the ministry over the past few years, contributes to the shop by distributing donations, managing logistics, and tracking inventory as it is given to families.
“We come in, build an action plan really quickly,” she said, “and get them a car seat, get them some baby stuff, some formula.”
For Lopez, her volunteer work at the shop is not just an opportunity to share resources but also to join in community with other mothers — to exchange stories, to commiserate, to offer encouragement.
“I have children. I know what it’s like to be a mom and to help moms in need, because I have been there before,” said Lopez, who added that another mother — Mother Mary — called her to the ministry. “We talk about our kids; we talk about their babies, and it is a really good opportunity for me to ask if they have been baptized.”
By volunteering at the Baby Shop, Lopez added, she and other volunteers are able to show “Christ’s love through good deeds” to families in her community, both by meeting their material needs and by offering spiritual support: extending Mass invitations, gifting rosaries and prayer books, or offering to pray with the families.
“Some people help with their time. Some people help with donations. Some people help with support or with words of wisdom,” Lopez said. “As a community, we come together, and we help the moms in need.”
All are welcome
Now a staple of the parish’s pro-life ministry, the Baby Shop is centered on a mission: to create a culture of life where every family feels supported, said St. Mark parishioner Carrie Baula, whose own passion for the pro-life cause was ignited at the 2011 birth of her daughter, who was born with trisomy 13.
“There’s a lot of mothers and families in need, even in Plano, and so we do the Baby Shop,” said Baula, who is a volunteer pro-life coordinator for the parish. “It’s open to anybody. They don’t have to be parishioners; they don’t have to be Catholic… We’ve seen people from Dallas drive all the way up to Plano, people from McKinney, from The Colony.”
Families come to the shop when a parent loses a job, when they are living from a hotel room, when they hit hard times, Baula said; so, when they receive assistance from the Baby Shop, “They’re so thankful, they just start crying.”
In the past, the shop’s mission was to assist women in crisis pregnancies, but it has since expanded its reach to serve any family in need, Baula shared.
“When we were thinking about opening fully to anyone in need, we thought, ‘How are we going to do this?’ It seems like such a large task,” she said, “but you’d be amazed at how God, when he wants something done, it just happens; and people just continue to donate, and people continue to volunteer.”
By creating an environment of support for families, Baula said, she hopes that those who face unexpected pregnancies or other difficult circumstances will know they have a place to go for help.
“My goal is that more parishes in the Diocese of Dallas would do this, because you’re going to find people who have a need,” Baula said. “They’re out there, and they’re in all our communities and even in our parishes.”
To learn more about the St. Mark Baby Shop, contact Carrie Baula at 469-772-0228.
Cutline for featured image: From left, Kathy Serrago, Maria Cantu, and Wilma Navarette are pictured in the St. Mark Baby Shop. (Courtesy photo)
