(Memphis) Clothes, bedding and food are everything a new mother needs, but not everyone can afford.

Thanks to the “Baby shop” in Frayser, they can get what they need and much  more.

Hopes are the “baby shop” will be an important tool in the fight  against infant mortality.

The “Baby Shop” officially opens on North Watkins.

With multi-agency involvement, including the Shelby County Health Department, The “Baby Shop” will provide clothing, bedding and other essentials to expectant and new mothers.

Dr. Etta Campbell, the “Baby Shop” project coordinator, says this will especially help young mothers, “The young mothers who cannot figure out how they are going to have clothing for their babies, how they are going to get bottles and diapers and health care for themselves.”

Mothers will be given vouchers for attending healthcare classes, getting immunizations and the like.

The vouchers can then be used to get needed supplies.

Dr. Campbell says the first priority of the “baby Shop” is to educate and turn around a disturbing trend,

“We’ve been told that in Memphis and Shelby County we have the highest infant mortality rate in the United States. And, of course, for us that’s very unacceptable.”

“It’s been a long time coming. There’s been a lot of work put into it, ” says  Pastor Michael Ellis of Impact Baptist Church in Frayser.

Pastor Ellis says the project has been in the works for over fiver years,  “We’re going to have workshops, we’re going to have counseling, we’re going to have professionals here.”

Mary Jones is glad the “Baby Shop” is opened.

She says it will send an important message to all expectant and new mothers in Shelby County, “We don’t want them to go without milk, we don’t want them to go without clothing. We want everything for them. And most of all we want to show them that we love them so much.”