GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) – Tidelands Waccamaw Community hospital opened Horry and Georgetown County’s first milk depot at the beginning of May. It’s one of five depots around the state that collect milk and then send to MUSC for distribution to three NICUS in South Carolina.

The hospital got its first donation from a mom in Forestbrook who brought 94 bags of milk, nearly 564 ounces. Leandra Fatone-Soos is a stay at home mother and was looking for where she could donate her extra breast milk so it wouldn’t go bad.

“I actually was looking online because he’s a big eater and doesn’t take a bottle so I had so much milk store I the freezer and there was no way I would even go through have of it before it went bad,” Fatone-Soos said.

Her online search led her to the newly opened milk depot at Waccamaw Community hospital. The hospital started it because of the great need across the state for milk.

“We were getting our milk from a mother’s milk bank in Austin but the demands for that milk have increased so incredibly there would be times when it was not available,” Community Health Education Director Carla Wham said.

Wham says that nearly 800 babies are born underweight each year in South Carolina and for them the breast milk can be life or death. That’s why the nurses were so happy when Leandra dropped off enough milk for more than 1,000 feedings.

“Well we were quite thrilled and surprised but for being our first donation for the mother’s milk bank we’re excited,” Wham said.

It’s something Leandra hopes other moms that are able to can experience.

“It’s important to me because i can’t imagine having to go to sleep at night wandering if my baby’s going to be ok and the pressure if I wasn’t producing the milk and that’s a lot,” she said.

Between the milk banks they want to receive 5,000 ounces of milk to send to MUSC a month. To donate breast milk, moms must complete an interview and screening process. Their milk will be screened and pasteurized at MUSC to guarantee safety and quality.

Once approved, moms can bring milk to Tidelands Waccamaw between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays and should call 843-652-1860. Special arrangements for drop off can be made by calling 652-1948. For more information, visit www.scmilkbank.org.