VIDEO | Showered with love: Nonprofit, family offer support to young mother

DOBBINS HEIGHTS — Becolia Smith was surrounded by family, family and elephants on Saturday at her baby shower thrown by Madison’s Place as a way to support young mothers in need while the organization works to establish its headquarters in Dobbins Heights.

Smith, 17, applied for Madison’s help in holding a baby shower and was approved on the basis of her efforts to support herself, according to Melanie Richardson, founder of Madison’s. Richardson hired Tyra Ellerbe of Ordinary 2 Extraordinary to decorate the Dobbins Heights Community Center in a “elephants in the jungle” theme, complete with a regal chair for Smith herself. She also brought in Bridgett’s Sweet Shop, owned by Bridgett Short, to provide the food. Madison’s funded a number of gifts for Smith, including a play pen, baby monitor, diapers, wipes, onesies, and blankets.

Smith is due to have a baby boy on Oct. 2.

Madison’s is not yet an official nonprofit — though it has applied for this status — and there’s still between $30,000-$40,000 worth of renovations to do to its building, 123 Earle Franklin Dr., which will serve as an emergency shelter and counseling center for mother between the ages of 15 and 21.

Melinda McDonald, who works with the nonprofit Alcohol and Drug Services based out of Greensboro (Richmond County is one of the seven counties the nonprofit serves) and is a member of Madison’s Place’s governing board, led Smith’s guests through a series of baby-themed games. They got competitive over a game of “The Price is Right” where they had to guess how much basic items like diapers and baby food costs, which had different generations of mothers recalling how much these things cost back during their pregnancies. The game was

They played BINGO where they filled in a card with different gifts and, as Smith opened them, the players would mark off the ones they got right in the hopes that they would fill in a whole row. In another game, they had to unscramble baby-related words on a time crunch in another game. Each guest was given a clothespin to put on their clothes, and any time someone said the word “baby” throughout the party, their attentive competitors could take a clothespin off of them. The person with the most clothespins collected at the end of the part won.

When the headquarters is fully up and running, McDonald, who has 17 years of experience in the field, will provide addiction prevention education to those who walk through Madison’s doors in monthly sessions (or as needed). For those who are already struggling with substance abuse, she will refer them out for treatment. Additionally, she will conduct community outreach for the organization.

Another board member, Stephanie McSween, a labor and delivery nurse for 13 years, was also in attendance Saturday. McSween said she will be running a newsletter which will help prepare the mothers for the experience of labor and delivery. She said that, based on her experience, the services Madison’s aim to provide are “definitely a need,” especially for mothers without sufficient support around them.

“[Madison’s] is very unique,” McDonald said. “We have a lot of our youth, our young women, that are in need, that may not have the support system they need, may not have the family members they need, so that’s where we step in.”

Smith said she didn’t know what to expect from the baby shower.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “I’m grateful.”