We are happy to welcome Aileen Glover back to the BOLD program and the Ajax site. Pray for her young family as she transitions back into work. Pray for the students in our local high schools.
Pray for opportunities for our CHOICE42 team and our PHC staff/volunteers to share life-giving messages online, in schools and in our Centres
Praise for our newly trained volunteers and our “old” ones too who dedicate their time and energy and love to our clients at the Centres.
Many thanks to our Ride for Refuge riders/walkers . We are thankful for all of our supporters...you make it happen!
Dean came in for the first time. He had three children aged 10 months to 6 years. The whole family situation was so messy. The good news was that the children had transitioned back into school and routine was beginning to set in. Given how difficult it had been for the family, this dad was more than a bit relieved to see the start of school.
He explained to us what had been going on in the family. There had been some involvement with the C.A.S. before the relationship had ended. The mother of the kids was presently in hospital and had spent some time in local shelters. There had been fights in the court for custody of the children. As he shared his story, we realized that we had helped the mom too.
Presently the children were in his care and he was having a hard time managing. He was unemployed and was struggling to provide for them. In going back to school, there was the extra pairs of shoes and the jackets and all the things they would need as fall approached. He didn’t know how he could do it. He was nervous about coming in because we had helped his ex-partner and he was not sure we would stay involved given all the problems and our relationship with her. You have to admit, pretty messy.
We spent some time just talking and hearing his story. Dean was pretty isolated and found that there was not much help available to him; he was raising these kids alone. There was so much anger and hurt and worry.
We asked him if we could pray with him, sharing with him that God cared about his situation and that we did too. We showed him around the centre and he left with shoes and diapers and food. He was so grateful for any help and we keep praying for opportunities to show him the kindness and grace of God.
Katherine Michel, MA
Executive Director
We've been working on a new video series titled, “Not Empowering” and we just released the first video. This series captures women's abortion experiences and regrets and smashes the ideology that “abortion empowers women”. For me, the line that stuck out the most during filming was, “They offer you biscuits and water…after they take your baby.”
This very young woman was coerced into an abortion that she didn't want by her violent husband. She has now been diagnosed with fertility issues and extreme PTSD because of her abortion – which happened in Toronto. Many tears were shed during filming but they don't show up in the video because we had to keep this woman's identity a secret as she fears for her
own safety.
This is the first video of many to come in this powerful series. The abortion industry is not going to like this side of the story being exposed. Please pray for these brave women as they open up to the world.
To view the video, check out the 'videos' section on the CHOICE42 website at www.choice42.com
Laura Klassen
Director – CHOICE42
WE ARE BACK TO SCHOOL...
We currently have 23 classes booked in high schools across the Durham Region. In one of our four presentations (entitled Dating & Relationships), we ask students to identify a couple that they know of that has a healthy, committed life time relationship; it could be parents, grandparents, relatives, a friend's parents, etc. Some students are easily able to think of a couple that provides a good example for them; however, some find it very difficult. One student could only think of her friend and her boyfriend as an example, who had been together for just over a month, because “they really like each other”. Another student mentioned a couple from YouTube videos that she had seen before because she “never saw them argue in their videos”. Worse, other students have witnessed abusive relationships at home.
So how do these students who have not seen healthy relationships navigate their own relationships? Our program aims to equip students to be able to make wise decisions about how to choose a relationship partner, how to build a healthy relationship, and how to spot unhealthy or abusive patterns in relationships. We promote a biblical view of marriage as a covenant relationship, full of honesty, respect, patience and love. Please keep our program in your prayers!
Aileen Glover, MSW
Prevention Coordinator