A Life Giving Year – Helpers NJ 2016 Review

This month we want to take the time to thank all of our Helpers for a LIFE GIVING year. In this fruitfull year we welcomed many Helpers into our “family outside the church walls.” Many men and women who have dedicated time, resources and dollars to our cause. You all have truly been a blessing to us.

What we boast most about this year though…is the work that Jesus did through all of us, for the women we met in 2016. With His grace and love and redemptive power, 39 babies were born to mothers we supported. This number included one baby who was placed with a loving family when his parents made the courageous decision of adoption. We also had two sets of triplets and one set of twins. There were 19 baby girls and 20 boys born that otherwise would not be here!

During 2016 we also continued to strengthen our bonds with organizations and created new ones with others, like Family Options, an adoption agency we have come to work with closely and respect tremendously. We are confident that birth-mothers who we refer, will be well taken care of both physically and emotionally and will become part of an even bigger family. Groups like this enable us to expand our reach beyond what we are capable of doing…and for that we are so grateful.

What is so amazing about the number of women who gave birth this year, is 14 of them we turned around at the door of the abortion clinic! There were also at least 10 more mothers turned around at the door who were scheduled to deliver in 2016, but they haven’t let us know baby details yet. It is evident that our presence at the Cherry Hill Women’s Center is vital. We are proud to organize the local 40 Days for Life Campaign in the Fall, but we also need people to witness for life and to pray throughout the year. There may be that one woman who feels like she has no other choice but to walk into the clinic on a random Tuesday morning…we want to be there to give her another choice.

Our first resolution for this year is to increase the number of people praying outside the CHWC. Petitioning the Lord for the lives of these little ones and for the their families…is the heartbeat of what we do. John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing .” We believe that without the Lord being involved in what we do, it is impossible to make real change. That is what we are trying to do here. Yes, we want the women we meet to make a choice for life, but we also want to have them take steps to make their lives better for themselves as well as for their babies. Real change, we believe, comes from the Lord and the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective! So join us… Let’s close this abortion mill down with the power of prayer!

Our second resolution is to grow in “Helper Spirit”. You can help by asking a friend or family member to check out our website and to sign up for LIFEStories. Share what we do with your churches and social groups. The families we help are sharing the good news with their friends and we pray our volunteer numbers will keep pace with this growing need!

Six mothers were referred to us by social agencies this year. Not only have other pro-life organizations, such as Options for Women, First Way, Good Counsel Homes and Sisters of Life realized that we fill a niche, but so have other agencies such as Cathedral Kitchen and Joseph’s House which each had pregnant women come to them, who were then referred to us. We are grateful for our relationships with NJ Touch Food Pantry and Assembly of God church in Riverside which have provided food for our families and we are proud to have worked with New Visions Homeless Day Shelter, My Father’s House, Harris Business School and Hopeworks ‘N Camden to move our families forward.

We will be happy to speak to a group you believe will help us to grow our volunteer base. If you are willing to arrange a presentation, let us know!

Lastly, the third resolution we have, is to unite with more agencies in order to comprehensively serve those in need and rebuild families. Do you know of an agency that could help our families? Introduce us!

One day we will all meet God and He may ask “How much did you love?” We Helpers will be able to respond that we gave our time, talent and treasure to serve the body of Christ. Those of us who pray for mothers and families in need, those of us who provide mentoring ,as well as transportation to doctor visits, job interviews, or other necessary appointments, and those of us who support these families financially are all very important to the mission. Thank you for doing one, two or even all three of these things.

We have met many parents in crisis pregnancies right where they are and brought them closer to God. We have become mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers to them. We have provided care to the needy in order to model God’s love for them. We have begun to build a culture of life and family in South Jersey and we hope that 2017 will be an even more fruitful year!

“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19