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
Annual Luncheon Unites Pro-Lifers for Wonderful Occasion
Thank you to everyone who helped to make our second annual luncheon such a success! We quadrupled attendees from our initial, small luncheon last year.
The Yakima Woman’s Century Club offered a beautiful venue for the event, including gourmet food provided by Staci’s Catering, plus our program and auction. As guests walked in, they were greeted by music on the grand piano, expertly played by Felip Holbrook. Flowers from The Findery added a colorful accent. Dr. George Hotchko did an outstanding job as emcee, and numerous Students for Life helped to greet guests and assist with the auction.
The luncheon began with a presentation of colors by representatives of the Yakima Veterans of Foreign Wars, reaffirming our love of country.
Our featured speaker, Linda D. Moore, traced the heartbreak of her own life in a talk entitled,
“Finding the Light After Abortion.” She offered a positive message, encouraging attendees that healing is possible with Christ. She emphasized to this audience, which included a number of young people, how not following the pro-life principles of life can lead to serious problems.
We also heard from Ileana Nicacio, president of our Edward Carroll Chapter of Students for Life in the Tri-Cities. Ileana spoke of how Students for Life is giving her courage to speak out and share her pro-life views with others.
We are especially grateful to our event sponsors, table sponsors, auction donors and all attendees who contributed to this event! It was a great opportunity for folks to come together from across the Central Washington region – and even Western Washington – to reaffirm our commitment to respect for life!
Christine Conklin
Executive Director
Pro-Life Coalition of Central Washington
Christine Conklin
Pro-Lifers Take to Sidewalk to Honor Cheryll Lover
On May 21, the Central Washington pro-life community said good-by to one of our heroines: Cheryll Lover of Yakima.
Pro-lifers took to the sidewalk outside of St. Paul Cathedral, with our life-affirming signs,
forming an “honor guard” for attendees to enter the church. This was in recognition of the many years in which Cheryll stood with signs at Planned Parenthood in Yakima, praying for an end to abortion and witnessing for life.
Cheryll died on April 27, at the age of 80, after a spirit-filled life in which she and her husband,
Bill, raised five children. She was involved in everything from home daycare to bookkeeping,
and serving as the St. Paul Cathedral School secretary, Capitol Theater usher and Costco sample person. She was a member of the Young Ladies Institute, sang with the Bel Canto and St. Paul Cathedral choirs, and donated time at Camp Prime Time and local food banks.
Please pray for the happy repose of her soul. She will be greatly missed!
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. 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.
In the Tri-Cities, the Edward Carroll Chapter of Students for Life took to the street by the Holiday Inn Richland, for a pro-life rally in March. We received a number of acknowledging honks from passing motorists. The Chapter President, Ileana Nicacio, spoke at the April Pro-Life Coaliton luncheon in Yakima, expressing how Students has helped to give her courage to speak out with her pro-life views. In addition to regular monthly meetings, the group also held a gathering in June to hear a talk by author Linda D. Moore in Howard Amon Park.
In Yakima, the Gregory Sherman Chapter of Students for Life also held a sidewalk rally in April by Walgreens on 40 th Avenue. Numerous members assisted with the April Pro-Life Coalition luncheon in Yakima. The advisor and one member of the group joined in an “honor guard” for Yakima pro-life champion Cheryll Lover’s funeral in May. And members gathered at Randall Park in Yakima in June to hear an update on Washington State legislative actions.
Our East Wenatchee Divine Child Chapter of Students for Life already this year has visited a nursing home twice, to bring cheer and companionship to the elderly. They also visited a homeless shelter and made breakfast, while serving in the food bank. Meetings frequently include discussion of pro-life values such as chastity. Another highlight was a large Spring, pro-life rally, on the street in front of the Wenatchee Planned Parenthood facility.
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 Spring, the Pro-Life Coalition completed 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
