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Choose life recipient grateful

Letter to the Editor:

I recently released my daughter through an adoption plan. This has been a really good and positive experience for me. I was able to use the "choose life" funds from the sale of the license plates for clothing, living expenses and transportation expenses.

I would like to thank the choose life fund donors, my family at Wooster Grace Brethren Church, the Pregnancy Care Center and the loving and caring family that adopted my daughter. If it wasn't for everyone's help, I don't know what I would have done.

Thank you for everyone's support.

Angela Heimbuch
Wooster, Ohio

Another lady shares a story

She was parked in a shopping mall parking lot. When she returned to her car, she found a young girl, standing behind her car crying. The girl said she wanted to meet the owner of the car. The lady thought the girl had been in an accident. No - the girl wanted to thank her for having that license plate, because God had used it to convict the girl not to have an abortion.  

The girl had been in her boyfriend's car on the way to an abortion clinic, when she prayed about the decision to abort (with which she had been struggling). Her boyfriend wanted her to have the abortion and he was paying for it. She had been afraid to tell her parents about the pregnancy. On the way as she was praying, she had to go to the bathroom very bad. She asked her boyfriend to pull into the mall parking lot, so she could use the bathroom in the mall. That is when she saw the Choose Life license plate.

She told her boyfriend that she would be right back. She phoned her parents from the mall to come get her. Then she went back to talk with her boyfriend after going to the bathroom. But he was not there anymore. That is when she waited behind the woman's car to thank her for having the Choose Life license plate. The woman told me how small a thing it was to have that license plate to help with such an important decision. "You never know how God will use our smallest actions." she said.

As told to Pat in Memphis

Because Every Life Matters

As the director of a pregnancy resource center in southwest Alabama, I know how important it is that our communities be aware of the services we provide. The Choose Life America organization does a wonderful job with their "Choose Life" license plates and I love the way I feel when I see cars on the road with their yellow license plates.

Choose Life America also has promotional items available with the "Choose Life" logo and I think they are a great way to get the message out about our centers. I have just ordered some neckties which I will give to local pastors and encourage them to wear their ties on the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday in January and on other occasions throughout the year. They give the simple statement, “Choose Life” that tells everyone where we stand and encourages others to do likewise.

I am proud to support the efforts of Choose Life America and I encourage other non-profit pro-adoption/pro-life organizations to do the same. In Alabama, we are blessed to have the Choose Life license plate available at our license plate offices.

Diane K. Pruitt, Director, Alpha Pregnancy Testing Center, Sav-A-Life, Inc., (251) 246-7750.

Choose Life Funds do make a difference

 

 

Heart to Heart Pregnancy Center has been a recipient of Choose Life funds for the last 2 years. We have been able to help 8 women with this money.
 
One woman was trying to complete her college degree while she was pregnant. She had another child and was convinced the Lord wanted her to place this baby for adoption. We were able to help her with rent money and transportation costs.
 
We had another woman from Mexico that had been raped. She was definitely considering adoption. We helped her with counseling, food, transportation, clothing, and medical bills. She was so grateful, since she had tried to abort the child herself...but did not want to.
 
Another woman who was married had been raped by a relative. Both her and her husband did not want to abort, but decided on adoption. We helped her with clothing, counseling, and transportation.
 
All these babies are now in wonderful homes. We have seen the success of the Choose Life program in operation in our hometown of Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Thanks to all who have promoted this wonderful license tag program!
 
Patti Logan, Executive Director
Heart to Heart Pregnancy Support Center
216A North Greenwood Ave.
Ft. Smith, Arkansas 72901
 
Choose Life license plates Save Another

Teresa (not her real name) arrived at a pregnancy center in Tampa, FL and told her story to a counselor. She was coming to have an abortion and saw several Choose Life license plates on the 10 mile drive. When she arrived at the abortion clinic, she told Judy, the counselor out front “You are a sign and seal that what I was about to do was wrong” She drove off knowing her future was going to be rough, but pretty well assured that God was going to use her in His plan.

Judy

The Choose Life Plate Is Beautiful   

This plate is saving saved lives. I coach long distance running at my local high school and everyday show up in my fancy convertible sports car with my Choose Life license plate. In all vanity I would love a Tampa Bay Bucs tag as I love football. However, I'll never forget the day one of my runners came up to me and said, "Coach I saw the license plate you have on your car." I didn't know what to say so I just gave her a confident, "Yup."  She said, "Coach that's really cool." She had an uncertainty in her eyes and took and extra moment to smile at me for that.  I'm not sure what it meant but I truly felt like His servant that day and I knew I was exactly where He wanted me. Without the persistence of you folks at Choose Life, Inc., I may have given in to my beloved Bucs. But now...not a chance, there was just too much in her young eyes to gamble with life! God bless. 
 
Suzanne Henslee
 
Dear Russ & Jill...
 
We have seen an increase in contact calls from North Mississippi because of the Choose Life awareness program. While there is no way to tell if it is a result of the billboards, special advertising that we are doing with the Choose Life funding or because so many people are seeing the Choose Life license plates on vehicles, we certainly know that "awareness" is the key. "Saving lives" seems to be the "normal" thing because of the thousands of Choose Life plates on the road and not merely the agenda of a relatively small number of volunteers working on the front lines in Crisis Pregnancy Centers, etc. Choose Life of Mississippi is certainly a friend to the unborn child and to the ministries, like New Beginnings, that offer a variety of services to expectant mothers in unplanned pregnancy situations.
 
Tom Velie, LMSW
Executive Director
New Beginnings International Children & Family Services
www.newbeginningsadoptions.com
(662) 842-6752
 
Dear Russ & Jill...
 
Although we have never met, you have helped me in a special way. As the Executive Director of the Women's Resource Center in Mississippi, I would like you to know that I totally support the "Choose Life" tags and I encourage all my friends, family and fellow pregnancy center workers to purchase them too.  My center is one of the newer centers in the state and the monies from the tags helped me tremendously to provided our clients with the things they need. We opened in and our first few years served 85 client of which 4 were counseled for the adoption option.
 
Amanda Hughes-Johnson
Executive Director
Women's Resource Center
sponsored by the HMJMCPC

Our First Save...

“Believing that legal action prevented us from buying the customized Choose Life license plates from the state of FL, my husband purchased a generic front Choose Life plate from Hosanna House for the front of my car. One day, as I was pumping gas, a young girl (probably in her early twenties) approached me. She asked me where I had purchased my Choose Life tag, because she wanted to get one. She unfolded her story that as a college student she found herself pregnant with her third child. Eager to finish college she made an appointment to have an abortion. On her way to the clinic she followed a car with a Choose Life license tag. As she got closer to the clinic she could not bring herself to keep her appointment, because the message on the tag spoke so loudly to her. She followed through with her pregnancy and now has a 9 month old son that joined her two young daughters. She testified that she would not change things now and is enjoying her little boy. Obviously she feels so good about her decision that she wants a tag for her car, in hopes she can help someone else make a decision for life!

I went away truly blessed by that 5 minute encounter. I still have warm fuzzies as I write this short testimonial. I did share with her where I had gotten my tag. I gave her a hug and thanked her for giving her son life and sharing the blessing with me. Hind sight always being wiser, I wished that I had had the presence of mind to take my tag off and give it to her. Perhaps she will continue to bless others with her story ‘til she finds someone that thinks a little faster than I do!”

Jeanne Gill
 
Blessed by the Choose Life license plate

We were so blessed by your ministry.  Actually, our 3rd adopted child, Allyson Joy, joined our family partly due to your ministry of Choose Life license plates.  After buying the plates for our cars almost 3 years ago, we received a note from Adoption by Shepherd Care thanking us for supporting adoption in Florida.  Their letter touched us.  Then last year, God brought this agency to our minds again when we felt God calling us to adopt another child.  After meeting with them, we knew they were the agency for us.  Several months later they placed our precious "gift of life" into our arms.   "Ally"  is now a 5 month old bundle of joy!  We might not have ever known about their agency if we hadn't bought our Choose Life tags!  God is so good!

Blessings to you both,

Bryan & Jean

God can do it...

We began receiving funds in January of 2003. We actually started promoting the tags in the Jackson-Metro area in the Fall of 2002, but the first distribution of funds came at the Lord's timing. General donations to our Center were significantly less in 2003. We have been steadily seeking to expand our services to reach more of the abortion vulnerable women in our area, so the check from Choose Life Fund made up that lack and has enabled us to implement our progressing vision.

The financial help has been significant, but just as important has been the pleasure of meeting new people who have switched to the Choose Life tag. We thank people in line at the gas station, at churches, in various parking lots, and tell them how we are using the funds at our Center.  We consider all those with this tag as our special friends and supporters. It has been a way to raise friends for the ministry and raise an awareness of what we are doing in this area.

You know it is our prayerful desire to see those tags the official state tag for the state of Mississippi. God can do it!

 
Serving Him with Gladness
Barbara Beavers
CPC Director, Jackson, MS

My name is Alecia...

When I walked into First Coast Women's Services in Jacksonville, FL in January 2002, I was 5 weeks pregnant. I was raised in a Christian home where I was taught sex outside marriage was not in God's plan. How was I going to face my parents? I knew how disappointed and devastated they would be. I was in my third year of college and saw my hopes and dreams fading away. My counselor encouraged me, prayed for me and pointed me to Christ for answers to my situation. But during the first weeks it was very hard. I even considered suicide. Gradually, I began to see I had to live for me and my baby. My counselor suggested that I look at the options of single parenting and adoption. At first I was totally against adoption. That would be running away from my responsibility, but as I looked at my circumstances, I knew that at this time in my life I could not give my baby the home I wanted him to grow up in. I decided his needs had to come before mine. I learned about the various types of adoption and looked at biographies of couples wanting to adopt and selected Mike and Ann, because Mike reminded me of my father. He was like a teddy bear with loving eyes. Ann was a teacher, which is what I was studying to be. I was also pleased to learn about the Choose Life license plate and how the funds would pay my expenses. During the entire process, I did not have to pay any of the expenses related to my pregnancy. The funds provided by people who had switched to the Choose Life license plate in Duval County covered them all.

Two months ago I experienced a joy that I can not describe. Mike and Ann brought Austin to see me. He is chubby, healthy and so happy. My family and my counselor celebrated this reunion with me.

Many people comment they could not have done what I did. They do not understand how the adoption process has changed. Open adoptions allow for various levels of continuing contact with my son. This journey has been a hard and wonderful thing for me, and it has held so much more joy than sorrow. My pain was eased by knowing I was doing what was right for my son and the joy came from seeing the love Mike and Ann showered on Austin.

I thank God for my parents who taught me right from wrong; my counselor who loved and cared for me & was with me every step of the way and the thousands of people who switched to the Choose Life license plate who lifted the financial burden from me;  even helping cover some of the costs that Mike and Ann would have had to pay.

Success comes to Pasco County...

This is just a little update on our first adoption client (Missy) here in Pasco County using Choose Life funds. Last Tuesday we were able to help her get into her own apartment - you should have seen her eyes, it was awesome. The future-adoptive grandparents gave her some furniture and the rest we bought in thrift stores and Dollar stores. One of the sweetest things she told me was that once she gets back on her feet, she is going to have her own car one day, and she is definitely going to have a Choose Life License Tag on it!
 
It really amazes me how many people are NOT aware of the Choose Life license plate and how much good it is doing. I was attending a coalition meeting with Healthy Families the other day. No one there knew about the plate or how the funds were being used. I educated them and shared our success story with them.
 
I'll keep you informed about our progress and once I have pictures you'll get some copies.
 
God bless you and the Choose Life license plate effort!
 
Marion Bauer
West Pasco Pregnancy Center
New Port Richey, Fl 34653

Choose Life funds at work...

Pregnant and desperate this young lady tried to take her life by overdosing on drugs and alcohol. Police found her and brought her to the hospital until she was stabilized. Through a series of events that only God could have orchestrated, she learned about us here at the SOLVE maternity home. At first she didn't want to live here because, as she said, "It was too peaceful". Through Christian encouragement and a peaceful surrounding she was able to make a decision only she could make, release her baby for adoption. When the day arrived for the baby to be birthed, she delivered a healthy child. Giving glory to God that the baby's health was not affected by her previous poor life style, she lovingly gave this little treasure to a Christian couple. As a maternity home, SOLVE receives 70% of the Choose Life funds generated in Manatee County.

Donna Vellenga, Director
Manasota S.O.L.V.E., Inc.
Bradenton, FL
 
Letter of Testimony from Pregnancy Center & Maternity Home
 
I am the Director of a pregnancy help center and maternity home located in Okaloosa County. We have Choose Life license plates everywhere! It is such an encouragement to see so many people who believe in what we are trying to do to help women in crisis pregnancy situations, not to mention the monetary boost that the plates have provided! Our maternity home residents who have chosen adoption have been helped tremendously by the Choose Life funds. We have been able to purchase uniforms, home school curriculum, and much needed clothing and personal items for our residents.
 
Jan Zinn
Executive Director
Family Life Center
Ft Walton Beach, FL
 
Letter of Testimony from Children's Home
 
"What if I told you I could help pay your expenses to carry your baby to term so that she can be adopted by a 'forever family' and the adoption won't cost you a penny?"
 
That is a powerful, practical, and hope-giving resource that our social workers are able to use with women experiencing a crisis pregnancy. And it is because of Choose Life funds granted to us from the sale of  license plates. it has happened many times over that women come to us for help, without money or hope, looking for a 'way out' of their pregnancy. we are able to offer them both money and hope and change their 'way out' from abortion to adoption.
 
The Choose Life funds allow us to assist women in making a positive choice for their unborn child. I want to thank you for helping us access those funds and for being a tireless supporter of the Choose Life license plate program. With your help, we're making a positive difference in the lives of children for all eternity.
 
M. Jamie Self, Central Florida Administrator
Florida Baptist Children's Home.
Lakeland, FL
 
Letter of Testimony from Maternity Home
 
On behalf of the residents at Manasota SOLVE licensed maternity home and the families we serve through our Pregnancy Care Center, thank you for making the Choose Life license plate a reality.
Not only do the license plates put out a positive message, it also aids us in running our maternity home. Many young, pregnant girls valiantly choose life for their unborn babies but feel they are not in a position to raise them. Therefore, lovingly, an adoptive couple is chosen. The Choose Life funds help us provide a stress-free, loving environment for these young women at no cost to them.
 
Donna Vellenga, Director
Manasota S.O.L.V.E., Inc.
Bradenton, FL

Power of the Plate

As we have mentioned, not only does the plate provide much needed funds to agencies helping women choose life, but they spread the message of life on the road. 

Choose Life plate testimony:

I went in to have my oil changed at a quick lube shop in town.  When the attendant came out to find out what I wanted and get my license plate, he came back and mentioned that he had noticed my license plate and had a close friend who was six months pregnant and her boyfriend was threatening her life if she didn’t get an abortion.  He said he really didn’t know what he could do. He seemed so distressed.  I told him that she had other options and could get counseling for free if she chose to do so.  I asked him if he would like the number of the Crisis Pregnancy Center in Baton Rouge and he said yes.  When he returned my car, I gave him a slip of paper with the number on it.   He was grateful and thanked me.  If I had not had a Choose Life license plate on my vehicle this interaction never would have happened.  Whether or not the girl called the number or not, I sensed that God was using that license plate to communicate and allow that young man to enter into the conversation we did.  Maybe a life was spared.  Thanks for all your work on this project.  May God encourage your heart and renew your strength.  (submitted by KG)

Updated 5-31-2015

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9-11-2018