Pro-Life Coalition of Central Washington
4001 Summitview Avenue, Suite 5, #16, Yakima WA 98908 | 509-985-6248 | Email: prolife@coalitioncw.org
Have A Heart For Our Youth
Our event was held on the grounds of the historic Rosedell home.
Warm Memories Cheer Us Through Colder Season
As the temperature steadily drops and Fall is slipping away, we continue to have warm memories of our Pro-Life Coalition gala at Rosedell. Many thanks to the sponsors, other donors, guests and speakers who helped to make this our most successful event ever!
With blue skies and sunshine (the downpour of rain waited until almost everyone had left), we enjoyed nice catered foods, music by Bryan Hubert and Guy Brooke, a silent auction and a live auction led by Spencer Dorsey.
Our speakers for the event offered much inspiration. Ines Martinez told of her journey from abortion to becoming an enthusiastic pro-life advocate. Jeremie Dufault stressed the importance of making our voices heard by voting. Emma Draper, a past member and officer of Yakima Students for Life, told how her group (founded and mentored by the Pro-Life Coalition) helped prepare her and others for adulthood.
With attendees from Yakima to Tri-Cities, Spokane to Prosser, one participant commented on the wonderful sense of unity and camaraderie she experienced at the gala. We hope that all of you will join us again in May for our Spring luncheon. It’s something to look forward to during these colder months!
Christine Conklin
Join us in celebrating life!
Gratefully,
Christine Conklin
Christine Conklin
Executive Director
Pro-Life Coalition of Central Washington
We Must Train Them In The Way They Should Go
It is vital that we save unborn babies from abortion. The Pro-Life Coalition of Central Washington is dedicated to just that – from offering speakers, to delivering pro-life resource information to community centers and bringing pro-life people together from across our region.
However, what about our youth? As one of our former Students for Life recently observed, what a shame it is to save babies’ lives only to have them grow up not knowing God – and not knowing to avoid the same behavior that led to their own, unplanned birth.
So often, schools, even Christian schools, and many churches do not teach pro-life values and behavior. This is why the Pro-Life Coalition is passionate about teaching our youth self-respect, the basics of fetal development, and the importance of waiting for commitment in marriage.
Please help us support the Students for Life groups we have formed in Yakima to Tri-Cities to East Wenatchee. Our young people need to learn self-respect, and to understand the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. They are our future. We MUST stop the cultural cycle of risky behavior, unplanned pregnancy, and repeat!
Won’t you have a heart for our youth?
Our Students for Life: The Leaders Of Tomorrow
It is a great joy to work with members of our Students for Life groups from Yakima to Tri-Cities and East Wenatchee. We’re also in the process of reactivating a Lower Yakima Valley group! These young people give us hope for a pro-life future. They are bright and caring and so sincere in their desire to do good.
At our September gala, we had about a dozen Students for Life present, helping with everything from greeting guests to speaking to the audience.
In the Tri-Cities, the Carroll Chapter of Students for Life has undergone a reorganization, with new members joining from several new sources and with them coming new enthusiasm. In September, Students met at Howard Amon Park to enjoy pizza and hear a presentation by a woman who had an abortion and has become outspokenly pro-life. In October, they met at Round Table Pizza to hear a great presentation from Mirror Ministries, educating them about the reality of human trafficking in our area.
In Yakima, the Gregory Sherman Chapter of Students met in September to hear the same woman speak about her abortion experience and her new zeal for spreading the pro-life message. In October, they took time to go door to door in Yakima neighborhoods, distributing information on pro-life political candidates.
Our East Wenatchee Divine Child Chapter of Students will lead off the Christmas season,
delivering special treat bags to an area nursing care facility. Yakima, too, will be making a delivery to a care center. Meanwhile, Tri-Cities Students will be collecting baking items to give to Mirror Ministries so that trafficking victims they serve can engage in fun baking projects.
Please help us continue to educate and mentor these young people: the leaders of tomorrow.
The Pro-Life Coalition Brings Together Pregnancy Center Leaders
By Melanie Smeenk,
Executive Director,
Life Options,
Grandview and Sunnyside
The Pro-Life Coalition has done a fantastic job, through the diligent work of Christine Conklin, of bringing together pregnancy center leaders in our Valley. I attend our quarterly Zoom meetings (hosted by the Coalition) as often as possible and appreciate these opportunities.
Our meetings are valuable to me because they serve as a reminder that I’m not facing this battle alone; we are all in this together! It’s important to connect with other pregnancy center leaders so that we develop unity in accomplishing our mission of protecting the unborn.
Through our meetings, we learn from each other, offer encouragement and share suggestions. I was particularly interested in learning from other centers how they have been impacted since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. We’ve also had productive conversations on how our client numbers have been impacted by various changes we experience not only in our cities but in our state. I’ve enjoyed getting to know the members of our group more through our time together.
The Pro-Life Coalition also does a very good job of equipping our youth to have informed conversations with their peers regarding the absolute value of human life, through their Students for Life groups. Because of these groups, students develop strong leadership skills, confidence in speaking and the ability to communicate their convictions with facts.
As a pregnancy center, we have a different approach than the Coalition – we each have specific roles to fill in this fight for life; but we do share the same beliefs. Through our different methods of speaking truth in our communities and promoting life, we are making a positive impact!
I am grateful to work alongside the Pro-Life Coalition and all our local pregnancy center leaders as we serve God in our daily tasks to impact and save lives for God’s kingdom and His glory.
Our Students for Life Group Warms This Young Woman’s Heart for Life
By Nora Billow
I have been a part of Students for Life Tri-Cities for the last three years and served as Treasurer for the past two. It has been a pleasure to serve my group in this way, and though we have a tight budget as teenagers, thanks to donors like the Pro-Life Coalition, God has provided.
When I first learned about abortion in middle school, I was shocked that it was real and not some horrific dystopian fiction. I was even more shocked to know that it was happening in my own hometown. I Googled videos about how an ordinary teenager like me could help, but I had no one to do it with. A few years later, I became friends with Katriel Nyman, a devout Students for Life attendee and current President, and she invited me to join the group. Since then, I have learned so much about how to talk to pro-choicers as well as how to witness to the lost.
Now, as I begin my adult life, I am so grateful for all that Students for Life has taught me. I have learned facts and statistics about abortion, yes, but more than that I have learned how to plan, pray, advocate, work, and witness alongside Christians who have a completely different approach than I might.
There are two main lessons God has been teaching me through these past years at SFL. The first is that to be in ministry with others, you do not have to be completely compatible with everyone else. The Body of Christ is so much stronger and more beautiful when vastly different people, who by the world’s standards would otherwise never be friends, can unite behind one faith and fight for a cause side by side.
The second is more obvious: prayer is effective. It is often challenging to trust that standing outside of an abortion clinic in the rain sleet, snow, heat or cold for a few hours every week is working for the good of the kingdom. But, as I have seen firsthand, prayer has power not only to change our external circumstances, but to change our own hearts as well. Some of the most trying days for me in my faith have been the days I have had to stand at the abortion clinic, but when we simply gather up and pray together out loud, my whole outlook can change. I can go from thinking, “This is useless. I’m cold. I want to go home,” to “God is doing something here, even if I can’t see it. There is a reason I’m standing here, even if I can’t see it. There is a reason I’m standing here. Our prayers are being heard right now by this living God. We can do this.”
Students for Life has blessed me in so many ways throughout my high school career, and my prayer is that it can continue to flourish and do the same for other young people, until it is no longer needed, and abortion is abolished!
Do You Have A
Pro-Life Resource Directory?
This Fall, the Pro-Life Coalition is completing the revision of our regional, pro-life resource directory. This directory is a handy guide for everything from pro-life pregnancy centers to emergency housing, toll-free hotlines and various organizations and individuals across our region who are willing to help those with unplanned pregnancies.
If you would like to have a directory or have an idea for an addition to our listings, please call (509) 985-6248.
What Is The ‘Pro-Life Coalition’ All About?
Founded in 2018, the Pro-Life Coalition of Central Washington is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation registered with the State of Washington and headquartered in Yakima. The Coalition serves this region with a variety of services, with the purpose of uniting and strengthening the pro-life community in respect for human life from conception through natural death.
We have three main areas of focus. We educate youth; forming, supporting and guiding Students for Life chapters. We provide medical professionals with pro-life materials, increasing their awareness of life-affirming resources available in our cities. Finally, we reach out into our communities to educate on the life issues, solidifying and prospering the pro-life spirit among people of various faiths and walks of life. As part of this latter effort, we have begun hosting quarterly Zoom meetings which bring together leaders from pro-life centers across Central Washington, allowing them to become better acquainted and exchange ideas and information.
The Pro-Life Coalition is here for YOU! You can call us at (509) 985-6248. Reach us by mail at 4401 Summitview Avenue, Suite 5, #16, Yakima, WA 98908.
Something To Think About...
“Abortion is profoundly anti-women. Three quarters of its victims are women: half the babies and all the mothers.”
– St. Teresa of Calcutta
CONTACT PRO-LIFE COALITION OF CENTRAL WASHINGTON
