ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Liberal’s Grace Place Pregnancy Care Center has grown significantly in recent years, and along with that growth, its annual fundraising banquet is growing substantially as well.

Normally taking place in September, this year’s banquet has been moved to Aug. 25, and likewise, the location has changed from the Seward County Ag Building to the Liberal Convention Center (LCC).

Doors will open that evening at 6:45 p.m., with dinner served at 7 p.m. Center Director Rhonda Kinser said this year’s event is unlike any Grace Place has done in the past.

Those wishing to attend the banquet need to RSVP by Tuesday, and they can do so at the center at 311 N. Grant Ave. in Liberal or calling Grace Place Executive Director Cindi Lyddon at 620-482-1807.

Kinser said the Convention Center was chosen primarily because a bigger venue was needed for the banquet.

“We outgrew the Ag Building,” she said. “Last year, we were really crammed in there. The Liberal Convention Center, Yesika, because we are a non-profit, was able to give us a very good rate, very comparable to what we would’ve had to pay for the city. They will do all the tables, chairs and tablecloth setup. It cuts down on some of the work we have to do.”

Kinser said the desire for this year’s banquet is to fill the room at the LCC with 400 guests at 50 tables and raise $211,000 in gifts and pledges for 2027.

“That number is due to she has two full-time staff members now and two part-time staff. The number of clients we are seeing has significantly increased,” she said.

Kinser said 72 percent of each dollar Grace Place takes in goes to center programs.

“That doesn’t include staff,” she said. “That is services we offer to our clients.”

As of now, Kinser said Grace Place is debt free, but dollars are still needed due to ongoing expenses.

“I think we’re going to cut it a little close by the end of this year, but the new construction we did to build a brand new work room so we could have space for all of the donation, all of that has been paid because of generous donors,” she said.

Kinser said the center is following a typical trend when it comes to volunteers.

“The summer is the hardest hit for us on our volunteers because right now, we have about 12 regular volunteers weekly, but in the summer, that has been more than cut in half,” she said. “A lot of our volunteers are traveling with family for vacation. Their kids are out of school, so they’re having to stay home with their kids. We feel at the beginning of September, we’ll be back up to 12 volunteers every week.”

In early May, Grace Place hosted its annual Run Baby Run, and with a new venue at Light Park, Kinser said numbers improved greatly for this year.

“We had 144 people register for the event,” she said.  “On the day, we actually gave out 131 bibs. We had 100 people actually cross the finish line. We had the Liberal High School band. They played while the runners were running. We had volunteers from the Junior Cadets to direct traffic. We had the bounce house. We did some extra stuff this year because we knew we had quite few families that were going to be involved and bring their kids out. It was a really good morning. It was an awesome community environment.”

Kinser called this the largest attendance for the Run Baby Run in its short history, and she said growth and expansion were the primary factor for the move to Light Park from the center in Downtown Liberal.

“The main reason is we wanted to have room and space for everybody and everything,” she said.

Kinser came to Grace Place in October 2025 just after the center opened its Limited Medical Clinic, and she said this has increased the center’s numbers.

“Since September until now because of the opportunity to give women a limited ultrasound, we have significantly increased in our clients,” she said. “Everything has expanded, and that’s why our budget has increased.”

Grace Place does ultrasounds from noon to 4 p.m. every Tuesday, and Kinser said as many as four ultrasounds are done each week.

“Since 2025, our clientele has increased up to 884 people,” she said. “That is just from January to July. We haven’t even finished out the whole year, and we are already up almost 900 more people we’re serving than we did in the whole year of 2025 as far as clients. That includes ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, classes, girls who come and shop in the boutique.”

The age range of these clients, Kinser said, has been from 14 to 43, and the increase in client load adds to the importance of the upcoming banquet.

“We only have one annual fundraising event,” she said. “Our whole budget for next year will be determined by the generosity of people who come to this banquet this year. It is one of the most important events we will host.”

For more information on the banquet, visit www.graceplacepcc.com.

“They can go on our Web site, and if they go to the tab that says, ‘Events,’ it is out there,” Kinser said. “They can click on that. We had a donor provide for us so we can register everyone online this year. If someone wants to go out and register, they can do that themselves. We’ve had a few people who have seen the invitation and  register. We’ve had table hosts who are contacting people to fill their tables. If they go to our Web site, there’s a QR code. They click on that, and it’ll let them register.”

Kinser said making the banquet possible has taken a lot of work, but as the date draws nearer, her excitement level continues to rise.

“It could be because we’re getting closer, but also, we’re having a lot of people respond,” she said. “That’s exciting. We have two incredible testimonies that will be shared this year. I think a lot of people will genuinely see some of the effects our pregnancy center has had on people this year. We have an awesome speaker.”