Community service organizations operate under tight budgets and even tighter timescales, yet many organizations who are able to withstand the test of time accomplish a legacy worth preserving.

The TLC Community Center will be celebrating its 19th birthday on February 2, and Director Angie Odom said everyone is welcome to attend the celebration.

“We have encouraged the first parents we helped to come this year,” Odom said. “Their kids are teenagers now.”

She said the center has grown since its beginnings as the Abortion Alternatives and Women’s Center, expanding into a different location over the years.

“It was a very old building,” she said. “I was at it with a putty knife, scraping at the walls.”

The anniversary open house will take place between 2 and 4 p.m. that Saturday, and Odom said the center will have pictures of the first children the center adopted.

She said looking back on what the center has accomplished amazes her.

“It is mind-blowing,” she said. “I like to imagine I am the same age as before and only the center is getting older.”

She said the center has always strived to provide for the life of a child, either born or unborn, and said the center will continue to strive for that goal for the next 19 years.

“We want to keep our feet on the ground,” Odom said. “We have to always stick to our core.”

She said the center has always been in operation thanks to churches or other donors, saying the center receives no federal or state aid.

“We have never taken money from organizations without the biblical standard,” she said. “We are supported by churches and other people. They can help us keep our doors open.”

The open house will feature families from across the center’s history, but Odom said there is something else the center plans to do as well. As a response to New York’s recent change in abortion legislation, Odom said the center will have a community prayer event.

“Any pastors who can come down are welcome to join us,” she said. “This is us standing up for the unborn. If we have a large enough crowd, we will go to the parking lot and pray.”

Those looking for the center in order to participate in the open house can go to 145 Judge Don Lewis Blvd. The prayer event will take place at 4 p.m. that afternoon, right as the open house comes to an end.