Holy Family Birth Center has been helping women give birth in a low-stress environment for 25 years, but now it needs help.

Despite its name, Holy Family only receives moral support from the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville, which cannot afford to fund the center, said director Nancy Sandrock, a certified nurse midwife.

Founded in 1983 by four nuns, the center grew to include six birthing suits, a clinic, a classroom, a chapel, medical storage rooms, plus housing for staff, volunteers, students and visitors.

The center, at 5819 N. Farm-to-Market Road 88 in Weslaco, allows expectant mothers to have their babies in a more comfortable, less clinical setting, she said.

Staff also teach woman to be assertive and realize they have choices about the birthing experience, she said.

Unlike at most hospitals, expectant mothers have a choice of having the baby in a warm water bath or a bed, she said.

The babies also stay with the mother right after birth, as opposed to the procedure in many hospitals, where they are kept in another room for six hours or more, she said.

Mothers receive instruction in breast-feeding and care of their newborn and may be attended by a doula, a woman who attends to the mother all through the process, she said.

But everything costs money and that is in short supply for the center, Sandrock said.

"We may have to close," she said. "We take people, regardless of how much money they make. ... If you call around town, (other facilities) want $1,000 to walk in the door and who has $1,000 sitting around?"

The center has families apply for Medicaid and the state-run Children's Health Insurance Program, although many may not be eligible.

Some doctors, hospitals or clinics encourage low-income women to go to Holy Family for pre-natal care, she said.

If the family is not eligible for a program, they will be put on a payment plan, based on what they can afford, Sandrock said.

Holy Family Birth Center does much more than just help women give birth, Sandrock said. Education about childbirth, prenatal care and infant care are all part of the program.

Volunteers and students nurses are trained at the center, she said.

If there are problems with the pregnancy, the mother and child can be taken to Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco, she said.

In addition to money, the center could use donations of baby clothing, baby supplies, packaged baby food, building materials or even gift cards from Home Depot, Sandrock said.

Her husband, James Sandrock, uses his carpentry skills and interest in recycling to make repairs, often with reclaimed building materials, she said.

James and some of the nurses boarded up the buildings before Hurricane Dolly and he has been making repairs since the storm, she said. He also helps maintain the center's computers.