ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Liberal’s Grace Place Pregnancy Care Center has two major fundraisers during the year, and the biggest one is coming up in less than a month.
Officials with the local pregnancy care center are preparing for the 2024 Grace Place fundraising banquet, and Director Letty Hernandez said the event helps collect funds by requesting donations to help the agency continue to provide needed services.
“It helps us keep our doors open,” she said.
For this year’s banquet, which will take place Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the Seward County Ag Building, Grace Place is welcoming back nationally known speaker Pam Stenzel. The night will also feature a complimentary dinner. Guests are asked to dress in business attire and come spend an hour and a half to see how Grace Place impacts the Liberal community and the surrounding areas.
“We will have teen moms who will be sharing their stories, and we will be able to hopefully reach our local teens and the community as to what we do,” Hernandez said. “We’re hoping with the information Pam has to offer, we can educate moms and teens to prevent teen pregnancy, as well as inform families who can share how important it is to donate to the type of services we offer.”
Hernandez said while Grace Place is non-profit, what it offers is needed in the community.
“We’re educating families, single moms, unplanned pregnancies, and they’re not only coming for one day,” she said. “They’re continuing for years after the birth of the child to receive information that is so beneficial to them as they are becoming adults. We have lessons that help in those areas. We’re building great futures for these young moms, and we’re also creating an impact in the way families are raising their children.”
Among other things, one of Grace Place’s goals is to bring in people who have a heart for what the center does and can help the center going toward its goals.
“One of our main goals is to obtain a new building or a mobile unit, to train a technician to do the ultrasounds with our machine and also to educate our teens by expanding our education program,” Hernandez said. “We are having to become a medical clinic in order to be able to provide those ultrasound services. With all those goals in mind, the funding is necessary so we can continue to be that pre-service that is creating an impact.”
Hernandez said Grace Place has the funds to purchase an ultrasound machine, but at this time, there is a roadblock in place keeping the center from obtaining the equipment.
“We cannot become medical in our current building, so we are needing to purchase our current building or another building or a mobile unit where we can provide the services of the ultrasound,” she said. “The ultrasound helps abortion-minded women change their minds and give life to that child. Going into the limited medical clinic is what we need now in order to to move forward in purchasing that machine. In order to be able to use that machine, we’re going to need a person who can do the ultrasounds. We’ll have to pay her.”
For those interested in donating to Grace Place, Hernandez said lawmakers have now enabled donors to receive 70 percent in tax credits for their donations.
“It’s worldwide,” she said. “If it’s a pregnancy care center and if you donate to them, you will get a 70 percent tax credit.”
Hernandez said many women who get an ultrasound have a change of heart when it comes to wanting an abortion, and she explained why this is the case.
“At 12 weeks, you are able to see an actual baby with arms, legs, feet,” she said. “It is a formed fetus. We had one mom see her baby on the ultrasound. The baby waved at her. When she saw that, she said, ‘That is my baby, and I love my baby.’ Those are things we’ve experienced of the impact of the mother seeing her baby on that screen. She realizes it’s a baby and not just a clump of cells.”
As for abortions in Seward County, Hernandez said no information was available for 2023, but she did say 29 were performed in 2022.
“It’s different now,” she said. “It’s hard for us to get those numbers, and we don’t know why.”
Hernandez added there has not been much activity in terms of local abortions recently, though.
“We’ve had more moms coming in to receive the education and the needs of diapers, formula and clothes more than abortion-minded women,” she said. “The number of abortion-minded women who have come to see us have chosen life. We haven’t had one within this year choose abortion. We can only do so much this year. We can’t force them to make a decision, but we inform them of the options they have. We do not refer them to an abortion clinic, nor do we perform abortions at our facility.”
In past years, Grace Place has seen deficits in its budget, but Hernandez said through grants and other funding, the center now has a more balanced budget.
“It’s sustaining us now, but with the goals we have for the future, we foresee that amount would have to be a lot more,” she said.
Funds received through the banquet help Grace Place pay an educator who can extend the center’s teen education program.
“We’ll be able to pay and train a technician for the training and for her salary, and it would allow us to buy the building or a mobile unit in order to have the limited medical clinic,” Hernandez said. “It will allow us to pay for our utilities, the diapers. We are having to purchase a lot of diapers because we are serving between 45 to 50 women a week, and as they’re learning, they’re reusing those baby bucks they’re earning to purchase those diapers.”
Hernandez said Grace Place’s highest cost at this time are diapers and cribs.
“We provide our mothers with a free new baby crib and mattress after 30 lessons, and we’ve had a lot of babies born and blessed with a new crib because their mothers completed either in-class lessons or over-the-phone lessons,” she said.
In the past, Grace Place’s hours have been limited, but due to a higher demand of services, the center is now open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
As for teen moms in Seward County, Hernandez said 30 new teens had babies in 2023.
“That affects 60 youth,” she said. “That’s including the boyfriend. We had five teens in Seward County who had abortions. We had 57 total births in 2023 for teens in Liberal and surrounding areas at our hospital.”
The 2023 banquet was the first under Hernandez’s lead, and she was quite pleased with the results.
“Our banquet last year was amazing,” she said. “We reached the goal we were aiming for and that was to purchase our ultrasound machine. We hope this year will be the same or even better. It was a wonderful dinner and wonderful speaker, and the stories the girls shared were the highlight of my night.”
One thing Grace Place is in need of at this time is volunteers.
“We have two who have been our most committed from the beginning, and we are in need,” Hernandez said. “They come once a week, but we are receiving donations almost on a daily basis, so we have an abundant amount of clothes that need washed and folded and sorted.”
Hernandez said high school students can earn community service hours by volunteering at Grace Place.
“They can set their schedules how they want,” she said. “If they want to come twice a week or only Fridays, we’d love to have them.”
While donations are made on a constant basis, Hernandez said Grace Place is always in need of baby items.
“Diapers, stuffed animals, swings, strollers, high chairs, maternity clothes, those are the items we’re in most need of,” she said.
Grace Place’s other major fundraiser, the Run Baby Run 1-mile, 5K and 10K runs in April, had an even break when it came to fundraising.
“We wish there could’ve been a better turnout,” Hernandez said. “It could’ve been the weather. It was a pretty cold day, but it was fun. Everyone enjoyed it, and they look forward to being part of it next year. We may have more and maybe involve the schools and teachers to bring their students.”
Seating for the Sept. 17 banquet begins at 6:45 p.m., with the dinner scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
“To register for the banquet, they can go to our Web site at graceplacepcc.com,” Hernandez said. “They can register to come as a guest, and we are looking for hosts to host a table of eight. If anyone’s interested in being one of our hosts, they can call us at 620-655-8050. We ask adults only please because of the limited seating. The dinner is complimentary business attire. An opportunity to make a financial gift will be extended at the end of the banquet.”
There are many places to go for those who have more questions about the banquet.
“They can go to our Web site,” Hernandez said. “They can also go to our Facebook page, Grace Place Pregnancy Care Center, and they may also call if they have questions. The online option is to reserve. They’re able to do a donation as well on the Web site. If they’re unable to attend, but want to give a donation, they can go to our Web site. There is a QR code on our invitation that can make the process easier, and we have also mailed out our newsletter to most businesses, local people and surrounding areas. The newsletter talks about our services. It also includes an invitation for the banquet and a letter where you can fill out how much you want to donate or sponsor.”
Hernandez said she is very excited for the upcoming banquet.
“The day will be here before we know it, and I’m so excited to hear that speaker who has impacted many youth, many people in her career of being a speaker for different pregnancy centers and around the world,” she said. “She’s amazing. She did a great job last year, and that’s why we asked her to come back.”
