On Saturday, July 24th, with a forecast of over 100 degrees, 53 Sponsored Walkers plus many friends and family joined us for our 2021 Walk for Life. We are so grateful for our Sponsored Walkers who reached out to their circle of influence and asked for partners (Sponsors) to join this Life-affirming ministry. There were 318 Sponsors who participated in the 2021 Walk for Life. As a new Sponsor you may be reading our quarterly newsletter for the first time. We want to keep you up to date on how we use your generous donations. By the way, 15 of our Sponsored Walkers chose to walk virtually, meaning they weren’t able to be at any of the three sites on the day of the event, but that didn’t stop them. As of this writing, all who participated raised $41,163 – so far!! We have included pictures from all three sites. We praise God for all of you.
During this year, we have had three fundraisers attempting to raise the money needed to not only sustain our main office in Ukiah, but also, so that we can open a Clinic in Clearlake. The year started with our Winter Baby Bottle Campaign which was recently followed by our Mother’s Day to Father’s Day Baby Bottle Campaign. In June we hosted Tony Perkins at our Spring Fundraiser in Ukiah. Just a couple weeks ago, we held our Annual Walk for Life in Clearlake, Lakeport and Ukiah. You might think that we are always fundraising!! Well, you are right!
By God’s grace, The Center for Life Choices has been able to operate its pregnancy medical clinic (the Mendo Lake Women’s Clinic) for 13 years. Not once during that time, nor the 22 plus years prior to that when we were not yet a medical clinic, did we ever receive money from the government. We have received no grants or reimbursements for services provided. All the costs of services have been covered by like-minded people like you, who believe that women facing unplanned pregnancies need a safe place to consider their options and see the truth within their womb so that they can make an informed decision. This last 18 months has wreaked havoc on many incomes, however, once again by God’s grace, He has provided through you, just what we need.
Cost for services include lease payments for our building, our ultrasound machine and our copier/printer, phones, internet, janitorial services, electricity, insurance both for the site and professional liability insurance, as well as compensation for our staff and, of course, marketing. There are specific patient-related costs which include pregnancy tests, STD tests and treatment, prenatal vitamins, various medical supplies used in our services and our electronic medical record’s platform. These are just some of the many and various costs we face monthly and with our expansion, it is reasonable to multiply most costs by two!
If you are not yet a monthly donor, it is with humility and gratefulness that we ask you to consider becoming a monthly donor. In order to sustain ongoing financial commitments and future responsibilities with our expansion, the Board estimates that we need to grow our monthly income. If, for instance, 100 families between Lake and Mendocino counties each pledged $60 per month, we would have a sound foundation as we move through the expansion and next year. Of course, some new monthly donors can only give $30 per month, but then there are some new donors who can commit $100 per month. But on average, it will take another 100 monthly donors to reach our goal. We hope to reach this goal by the end of the year. Would you please prayerfully consider becoming a monthly donor?
On the next two pages, I have shared some stories of the women we serve. These short snippets of lives (actually two lives!) that are drastically changed by a visit to the Mendo Lake Women’s Clinic are just a small sampling of many intense life stories that we are able to come alongside of on a daily basis. The “we” includes each and every one of God’s servants who sacrificially gives on behalf of Life. If you are not a monthly donor yet, I ask you to go to the Lord about this very important partnership. Please become part of the “we!”
“If you don’t get the right to Life right, you won’t get any other right right! That’s the fundamental right!!”
Don’t miss our Annual Fall Fundraiser featuring Seth Gruber, a nonapologetic, pro-life young man who is a compelling and passionate voice for the unborn. Seth is reaching all generations and is helping change the way that our county thinks about and interacts with abortion. He is focused on equipping Christians and pro-life advocates to make a gracious, winsome, and persuasive case of their pro-life beliefs in the public square. Please check Seth out at sethgruber.com and join us at 6:15 for complimentary hors d’oeurves followed by the program at 7pm. Invitations will be in the mail shortly! Please invite anyone you know to this evening of inspiration and education. They will be glad you did!
Seth reminds us:
“The womb is the most dangerous place for a human being to find themselves in America…You are more at risk of being murdered in a womb than you are residing in any city or crime-ridden slum.”
“Psalm 139 says, Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex, for knitting me together in my mother’s womb. My frame was not hidden from you when I was woven together in the dark of the earth. Fascinating truth. That’s what it means to be created in the image of God.”
“We can’t be caught sleeping anymore because our opponents and the enemies of the unborn are engaged in this battle, awake and serving their father in attacking unborn children.”
“The Pro-Life movement is the Pro-Woman movement because it tells women “You do have the strength of soul to embrace motherhood for the child you are already the mother to and accomplish everything else as well because you are an image bearer of God with great potential and beauty.”
You definitely don’t want to miss Seth. Look for your invitation soon!
Our patient, Ariel, arrived at The Center under the influence. She was much further along than she thought. At 17 weeks pregnant, Ariel was shocked to see the developed baby in her womb. She appeared disoriented with the news and though very abortion-minded, she left with a return appointment scheduled. Her boyfriend/father of her baby called to ask where they could get an abortion. We, again, informed him that we do not perform or refer for abortion. When we contacted Ariel shortly after she missed her return appointment, her boyfriend answered and saidfthat they couldn’t have this baby. We asked to speak to Ar- iel and we were told she couldn’t talk now because she “was high.” The Center staff prayed often for Ari- el after this conversation. We hold onto hope for Ariel and her baby as we received a request for medi- cal records from an OBGYN. We are trusting the Lord for Ariel and her baby.
Our patient, Beth, greatly appreciated our services. She had more miscarriages than live births in her history. Now she was pregnant again and scared that she would miscarry. Our nurse found two gestational sacs which suggested twins! Beth was very excited on the one hand, but she was also very emotional on the other hand. During our subsequent visits, it became apparent that she lost one of the twins in utero. Though it was very hard on Beth, she continued to thank us over and over again for walking alongside her. In fact, Beth brought her baby by to see all of us!!!
