Volunteer Appreciation Night 2009

We were so grateful for the opportunity to gather our faithful volunteers and their families for our first Volunteer Appreciation Family Picnic. We enjoyed a delicious cookout at Cereland and activities for kids and adults alike including a clown, magician, water balloon toss and egg toss.

More than 6,100 volunteer hours have been given by our volunteers from January-July of this year alone. The Independent Sector of Volunteers puts the value of one volunteer hour at $20.25. That equals $124,274!

May God continue to bless each of our volunteers and their families as they so beautifully serve Him through this ministry.

Golf Tournament a Success!

Our 11th Annual Golf Challenge took place on Monday at Otter Creek Golf Course in Columbus. We had 58 teams and more than 200 golfers participate. God blessed us with PERFECT weather and the golfers had a great day.

The ministry raised just over $86,000 in sponsorships and pledges! This is right at our budgeted number and about $1,000 dollars less than last year's number. How amazing, given the economic circumstances under which this fundraiser occurred! Many thanks to all who made the tournament a success, including our tournament sponsors, golf captains, golfers, golf sponsors, volunteers and staff. Most of all, many thanks to our Gracious God, who always goes before us to prepare the way for the work to be done. To Him Be the Glory!

Reaching Men for Christ

Each client that comes to our Centers is asked to complete an evaluation form and answer a few questions about their visit so we can do the best job possible in serving our clients.

I just received a copy of a client feedback form from our Bartholomew County Center. This particular form is from a male client who spent some time with a Men’s Ministry Volunteer.

This young man came into our center for material assistance. When he went into the counseling room the conversation turned into a spiritual discussion. He was presented the Gospel and made the decision to accept Christ as his personal Lord and Savior that day!

There’s also a spot on the feedback form where the client can write additional comments regarding their visit. This client wrote, “May God bless you all! And thank you for showing me the way to God!”

Thank you for your financial and pray support that makes the work of this ministry possible!

Teresa Russell, Director of Marketing

New Online Fundraising Tool

Our 11th Annual Golf Challenge is quickly approaching on Monday, August 3. This year, we’re excited to offer online registration that includes a tool to assist you in your fundraising efforts. To participate in the tournament you need to raise at least $150 in pledges. Whoever raises the most will receive their choice of a Sky Caddie or Garmin GPS. The runner up will receive a gift certificate for golf for four at Otter Creek.

So for all you golfers out there who haven’t stated raising your pledges yet, here’s how the online fundraising tool works and how you can raise your pledges easily and quickly, while also saving the Pregnancy Care Center time and costs:

Go to our website at www.affirminglifeonline.org and click on the golf ball. This will take you to the Golf Tournament Information Page and allow you register as a golfer. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email with the Subject Line, “Golfer Information: 11th Annual Golf Challenge”. (It is very important to save this email as it provides you access to your “Online Sponsor Manger” page).

In that email you will find a large “Manage My Sponsors” button. Click on it and you will be taken to the Online Sponsor Manager Tool. To ask people to sponsor you, click on the “Invite Your Friends” link and you’ll be able to send out one email to your friends and family whose email addresses you enter into the box. You can even add your own personal message to the email.

When your potential sponsors receive your email, they will find a large “Click Here to Sponsor Me” button at the bottom of the page. They can then give a gift online via credit card or bank account, or be billed.

As your friends make gifts, their name will appear on your “Online Sponsor Manager” page. Click on each person’s name to see how much they pledged to you so you know how much more you have to raise.

Our hope is that this tool will help you to recruit your sponsors easily while also saving the Pregnancy Care Center time and costs in processes the gifts made to the ministry. If you have any problems with or questions about the fundraising tool, please contact Teresa Russell at 812-378-4114 or toll free 866-510-5067.

Cosmo's Twisted Take on Virginity

There is a shocking headline on the front of Cosmopolitan Magazine this month; so shocking that whoever makes up the headlines actually wrote it like this: “VIRGINS IN COSMO! (We Thought This Day Would Never Come)” (July 2009 issue.)

Considering that I find this magazine offensive on several levels it pained me considerably to plop down $4.29 to purchase the magazine. But, I wanted to read what millions of women around the world (they tout that they are the best selling magazine with 58 international editions published in 34 languages and distributed in over 100 countries according to their web-site) would be reading about virginity.

As I suspected I would be, I was outraged. The summary is this: “seven virgins were interviewed and NOT ONE indicated she planned to actually wait for marriage.” I’ve scanned the entire article twice to see if the word marriage even existed in any of their interviews. Not once. One girl says that she “is in no way waiting for The One” and another says she “wants to hold out a little longer” but perhaps one of the saddest statements of all comes from a young woman who says that she was holding out for Mr. Right….but sometimes she thinks “Mr. Okay will have to do.”

I can not express emphatically enough how incredibly VITAL our ministry is to the young men and women in our society today! Teens are asked to believe nothing but pure LIES from our culture on a daily basis. It is compromises they are being asked and told to make! The Pregnancy Care Centers of South Central Indiana lovingly confront this generation with truth in the classrooms, in the centers, and in every encounter we are given.

Let me share just a few of the many instances where we are making the difference in South Central Indiana. I have included seven comments from seven Indiana teens to rebut the seven testimonies of girls in the Cosmopolitan Magazine article who have bought the lies of our culture or grown too weak to care. Let the comments collected from teens at the Columbus East/North Summer School program who embraced our Choose to Wait program last week speak to you:

- “I am now more confident on keeping my virginity.”
- “(This) really got through to me.”
- “I’ll definitely save my virginity for my spouse.”
- “Gave me a better perspective.”
- “Having this presentation convinced me.” “Awesome”
- “All of it made me realize it’s not worth giving up when there is so much ahead of me.”
- “It was SO informational.” “Think about your future spouse.”

Please join me in praying for the strength of our ministry and the audacity of Generation Y to embrace the truth!

Tracey Pike, Director of Community Education