HASTINGS (SNR) – A barbecue will be held Sunday, Oct. 4 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Adams County Fairgrounds, to raise funds for Wellspring Pregnancy + Health Center in Hastings.
For more than 30 years, Wellspring has encouraged women to choose life. The organization started small, with women coming to the center to receive a free pregnancy test and to learn about their options.
In 2001, seeing a need to provide parenting classes, Wellspring moved into the building formerly occupied by the Crosier Fathers, a religious order of priests who served the area. The parenting classes continue today, and are facilitated for each client individually; tailored to the parenting skills and information each client wants to know. The classes are called “Earn While You Learn” classes. After completing the classes, clients earn “baby bucks” where they can buy items like cribs, car seats, and diapers for their babies. Earn While You Learn classes are also available in Spanish.
In 2015, prompted by a gift from the Knights of Columbus to buy an ultrasound machine, Wellspring started offering free ultrasounds to women considering abortion, knowing that seeing the baby for the first time has a powerful impact on a woman choosing life for her baby. In particular, those age 18-24 have a need to know as much information as possible since they have grown up able to search the internet for almost anything.
“Clients come to Wellspring because they have an immediate need for information and support, but the hope and prayer is that each woman experiences a conversion of heart and grows in her relationship with Jesus,” said Mary Hall, executive director. “Each day, we perform corporal and spiritual works of mercy meeting women where they are.”
She said many of the clients who come develop strong relationships with the volunteers who teach the classes.
In the last 12 months, more than 4,000 diapers were given out by Wellspring to moms in need or to moms taking parenting classes. Almost all the diapers were from the diaper drive conducted each October by the Lincoln Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (LDCCW).
Hall said every client is assigned a mentor who helps them each week. The parenting mentors offer practical advice from their own parenting experiences.
“Many clients have never had positive parental models,” she explained, and the mentors offer their own parenting knowledge and encourage them as the clients learn how to be the best parents they can be.
Wellspring walks with them until they feel confident enough to “graduate” from Wellspring. Some are with Wellspring until well after the baby is born, some for two or three years.
In the last year, Wellspring has increased its online outreach since most women considering abortion use the internet to discover options. Once a woman comes to Wellspring, she has an 85% chance of choosing life because of the support and hope she finds.
Hastings-area parishes are involved with Wellspring through giving and prayer support. Volunteers and board members are from St. Michael and St. Cecilia parishes in Hastings; Sacred Heart in Kenesaw; St. Ann in Doniphan; St Joseph in Harvard; and Sacred Heart/Assumption in Roseland. Hall, executive director since 2017, is a member of St. Michael Parish in Hastings. While Wellspring has a strong presence in the Catholic community, there are board members and volunteers from many area Christian churches who also value life and want to empower those coming to Wellspring to choose life.
The Oct. 4 barbecue is the same day as the Hastings-area Life Chain. The Life Chain is a peaceful, prayerful event in which participants line the sidewalks in “a stand of peaceful and prayerful solidarity” against abortion.
People can attend the barbecue and then go to the Life Chain from 2 to 3 p.m. While the annual fundraising dinner is usually a social event, due to COVID 19 restrictions this year, the board decided to host the first ever “drive-thru BBQ” to raise funds to support Wellspring.
