ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
In less than two weeks, Liberal’s Grace Place Pregnancy Care Center will be hosting two events, and the first of those will be a teen rally taking place at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15 in James Maskus Auditorium at Liberal High School.
Director Letty Hernandez said youth on hand will have a chance to win prizes, including a 40-inch TV and a Nintendo Switch in a raffle taking place at the rally. Youth age 12 and older are invited to the rally, which is free to attend.
Hernandez said those attending the rally will hear from motivational dynamic speaker Ryan Bomberger, who will also be speaking at Grace Place’s annual banquet the following night at 7 p.m. at the Seward County Ag Building.
“He is an Emmy Award winner,” she said. “He is a creative professional, who founded the Radiance Foundation, a faith-based life affirming educational non-profit along with his amazing wife, Bethany. He is an international public speaker, columnist, educator and author.”
The Bombergers likewise co-authored the groundbreaking children’s books, “He is He,” “She is She” and “Pro-Life Kids!”
“He has several decades of experience in leadership, as well as in mentoring and educating young people,” Hernandez said. “As a creative professional who loves to educate, he has been able to share core identity issues on life, race and sexuality through creative ad campaigns, powerful multimedia talks.”
Hernandez said the Radiance Foundation addresses culture shaping issues in the context of God-given purpose.
“Their daily inspiration and eliminating bad in every human life has a given purpose,” she said. “He speaks globally, and he helps pregnancy centers at events like ours. He’s raised millions of dollars for pregnancy centers. He’s a big supporter of pregnancy centers. We encourage people to come listen to the message for free, to hear the message, and we just hope people are encouraged to come hear him.”
For teens, Hernandez said Bomberger wants to talk about self-control versus remote control, and she added local youth pastors and leaders are encouraged to bring their teens to the event.
“The one leader who brings the most teens, at least five or more, they get a ticket for each five to put in to win a pizza party,” she said. “The teens will be entering in that prize raffle for the Nintendo Switch.”
With well-known motivational speaker Pam Stenzel speaking at last year’s rally, Hernandez said the first ever edition of the event went quite well. This year’s event, she said, should be even better.
“We were happy to see the turnout with a pretty good group of kids,” she said. “It was very impactful last year. We had a lot of great feedback from parents and teens, and the speaker was phenomenal. This speaker’s just as phenomenal or better. We’ll have good feedback from it.”
As for the banquet, Hernandez said that will take place Sept. 16, with seating beginning at 6:45 p.m. and dinner starting at 7 p.m. in the Ag Building.
Registration for the banquet closed Tuesday, but Hernandez said Grace Place officials will still take names and numbers and find a spot for them at the banquet.
“They can go to our Web site to register, or they can call us,” she said. “Our Web site is graceplacepcc.com. They can click on ‘Events’ and register for the banquet. They may also call us and register that way, and we would put them at a table. We have several hosts who are helping us fill tables, and for any host who is still needing to fill their seats, we can place them with someone.”
Hernandez said Grace Place leaders are looking forward to hearing Bomberger speak at both the banquet and rally, and she added two young ladies will share their stories and experiences with the local center.
Banquet attendees will also have an opportunity to make a financial gift.
“It is business dress and adults only, as the seating is limited,” Hernandez said. “Every year, the funds collected from the banquet have served our needs for the year, and we look forward to having another successful fundraising event this year.”
The banquet is scheduled to end at 9 p.m. Catering the meal will be John Ross Catering, and local musician Alisa Henderson will provide music during the evening. This year’s banquet will also feature a backdrop to allow people to take pictures with Bomberger or of themselves with family and friends.
Hernandez said the goal for this year’s banquet is 320 guests and to collect enough funds to fund a teacher to work with teens for Grace Place’s relationship training program.
“Last year, we raised enough money for the building purchase,” she said. “We’re looking for people to support this ministry. We want you to invite friends who love what we’re doing, who are inclined to support us financially, people from Sunday school, small businesses or Bible study groups who believe in the sanctity of human life and sharing the hope of Jesus Christ.”
Hernandez said all funding helps, and donations can be of the one-time variety or on an ongoing monthly basis.
“We hope they enjoy the banquet well enough to come back every year,” she said. “We encourage them to stop by and look at Grace Place and the new limited medical building to see what these past banquets have allowed us to achieve. It is free, but it’s our biggest fundraising event.”
With the acquisition of a new building and an ultrasound machine and the hiring of a new nurse, Hernandez said Grace Place is in need of funding to continue its mission.
“Now we have utilities,” she said. “We have a lot of expenses with both buildings and customers. We’re going to have a new addition to have enough room for all the donations that are coming in. That’s another expense. Grace Place is in need of donations.”
Grace Place’s teen instruction program is scheduled to begin this coming Monday, and Hernandez said the center has a voluntary nurse who will be doing the instructing, but eventually, she said a teacher will need to be hired as well.
“We have the addition of the building and to pay for the teacher to be able to do those classes with the teens,” she said.
Among other expenses, Grace Place will have a teen boutique in the limited medical building, and Hernandez said funding is needed to fill the boutique with supplies for youth.
“The teens will be able to purchase items,” she said. “As they’re learning, they’re earning teen bucks. We’ll need to be able to fund that teen boutique.”
Hernandez said it is important for both parents and teens to come to the banquet and rally respectively.
“Our mission is to lower unwanted pregnancies, lower the number of abortions, lower the number of teen pregnancies,” she said. “We hope we could be able to reach those who are vulnerable, and maybe the ones who come can share what Grace Place is and what we offer. With that, we could grow our program, and it would impact more families and more youth.”
Overall, Hernandez said Grace Place has three nurses at this time, and all have been certified to perform ultrasounds. She added the center is still accepting models to sign up to help the nurses continue their training.
“Once they have the ribbon cutting, it’ll be open to the public where they can come,” she said.
A continuing program at Grace Place is car seat safety, and Hernandez said the center now has two certified car seat technicians.
“We did not have a safety lane this year due to running out of car seats, but next year, we will have a car seat install during the spring,” she said.
As for the near future of Grace Place, Hernandez said it looks bright.
“All the dreams and the goals we have for Grace Place are coming into fruition,” she said. “God is really in this, and a lot has transpired. God has helped us right along to get where we are right now.”
As Grace Place continues to grow, Hernandez said so too is the number of people who know about the center.
“Our services are unique,” she said. “They’re free, and they’re needed in our community. We’ve had a lot of support from the community. As we look at all of that, we’re very grateful and blessed to say Grace Place really has a bright future.”
For more information about the upcoming banquet and teen rally or about Grace Place in general, call 620-655-8050, visit graceplacepcc.com, or message the center on Facebook.
A ribbon-cutting for the new limited medical building and ultrasound is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, at Grace Place at 311 N. Grant Ave. in Liberal. Hernandez said she is excited for all of the events taking place throughout the month at the center.
“Every year, more and more people are learning about us,” she said. “They’re supporting us, and the more that happens, the better for us so we can continue to bless those moms and families who are needing our services, especially the teens. We’re going to be reaching a lot of teens.”
