by 
Mary Tribbey
By John Hernandez
San Manuel Miner
Family First Pregnancy Care Center and Family Diaper Bank is a non-profit Christian educational center that provides services for mothers, youth and families. The center promotes sexual integrity as a safe and healthy lifestyle for unmarried persons. Some of the services they provide include: free pregnancy testing; Earn While You Learn Program; Ten For Teens Program; information on adoption, abortion, and parenting; education on prenatal care, child development, parenting and life skills; teen programs on pregnancy, substance abuse, and dating violence; child seat safety classes; and a Fatherhood Program for expecting dads. Family First has two locations, one in Oracle and another in Winkelman. Like most non-profits, it is volunteers that keep this organization going.
Mary Tribbey is a volunteer at the Oracle Family First office. She works with clients, writes grants, keeps track of purchases made by clients using “mommy money”, and handles the paperwork as part of her duties. She has been volunteering with Family First for four years. Mary says that Family First is a wonderful, positive, and happy place to be”. She enjoys watching the kids grow up and helping people.
Mary was born and raised in Bedford County California. Before coming to Oracle, Mary worked as a teacher for 25 years. She worked for two years at Kayenta on the Navajo Reservation and taught her final 17 years in the Globe School District where she was a Specialist Resource Teacher for 7th and 8th graders. After retiring, she missed working with people so began volunteering.
“Volunteering is a way of giving back,” Tribbey said. “I think I get more benefits than the clients. I get to meet new people and it lets you think about others and not yourself. It’s a good feeling knowing that you are helping other people.”
If you are interested in the services offered by Family First or would like to volunteer, contact them in Oracle at 520-896-9545 or in Winkelman at 520-269-9152. Visit their website: www.familyfirstpcc.org for more information.
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