The Baby Store is an incentive-based, prenatal health promotion program that aims to create healthy moms and healthy babies. Health Department clients earn “Baby Bucks” by attending their prenatal care appointments and participating in health education programs such as smoking cessation, childbirth, parenting, and breastfeeding classes.

Clients with children who visit the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program; Women’s Health Clinic, Family Planning Clinic; Child Health Clinic; Immunizations Clinic as well as participants in the Care Coordination for Children; Pregnancy Care Management, Adolescent Parenting Program (APP) and newborn visit programs can also earn Baby Bucks.

Once bucks are earned, they can be used at the Baby Store to purchase items such as diapers, baby wipes, clothing, car seats, strollers, bathtubs, and more.  

The Baby Store is made possible through a grant awarded by the North Carolina Office of Rural Health. The Baby Store was originally opened in 2010.

In September 2024, the Baby Store was awarded the NC GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Child Health Recognition Award, which also came with a monetary award of $10,000. While some funds were utilized in 2024, the majority of funds were used in 2025 to purchase various items for the Baby Store, such as car seats, strollers, bassinets for safe sleep, clothing, and bath items.

This year, the Baby Store had more partners and clients donate new or gently used items than previous years. Those partners included Tau Eta Eta Chapter Nursing Sorority, Mt. Zion AME Zion Church, and the Kappa Silhouettes. We also had various community members donate clothing, diapers, and more to the Baby Store.

We wanted to update our Baby Store advertising and were able to do so due to being awarded the United Way Youth Growth Stock Trust Grant in the amount of $1,400. Flyers have been posted through the health department in English and Spanish to increase our client numbers. The 16% increase of client appointments between 2024 and 2025 includes a increase of all non-English speaking clients as well, which we attribute to our non-English marketing strategy.