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April 30, 2018

Agawam parish holds baby shower for pro-life pregnancy centers

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Carolee McGrath

Pictured are (left to right) Kelly Wilcox, director of Clearway Clinics; Andreana Perkins, organizer of the baby shower; and Pam Hibbard, director of Bethlehem House.

 

 

AGAWAM – Donations of diapers, wipes, baby clothes, bottles, blankets and binkies covered the stage inside St. John the Evangelist parish center in Agawam, Sunday, April 29.

Parishioners have been shopping for weeks for the baby shower held for Bethlehem House in Easthampton and the new Clearway Clinic, opening soon, on Columbus Avenue in Springfield.

“It’s fantastic. It’s really fantastic. They did a beautiful job,” said Pam Hibbard, director of Bethlehem House, a crisis pregnancy center that’s been helping women choose life for the last 13 years. The nonprofit, located at 33 Knipfer Ave., Easthampton, receives support from the Annual Catholic Appeal.

“We do counseling, we do referrals to other agencies,” said Hibbard. “It depends on the situation. We actually help people with rent and electric. We help keep moms in school.”

Hibbard said the organization, which relies on donations and volunteers, helps 30 clients a week. They are presently in need of donations for baby clothes, car seats, strollers, pack and plays and all the supplies that help struggling parents care for babies up to 2 years old. She said Bethlehem House has supported five families with triplets in the last few years. Hibbard said one family of triplet boys has now bought their own house.

“The mom was told to abort the triplets. They were devastated. So we showed them love and kindness and it changed them. They were so glad that somebody believed in life like they do,” Hibbard said. “By doing that, showing God’s love, it changed them and they said, ‘We can go forward.’”

There was also a silent auction at the baby shower to benefit the new Clearway Clinic. Clearway Clinic, which opened the first location in Worcester in 2000, is a nonprofit state-licensed medical clinic specializing in pregnancy diagnosis and medical confirmation. In 2013, they switched from a more traditional pro-life pregnancy resource center to a medical model, offering medical diagnosis, pregnancy testing, STD testing and ultrasounds.

The Worcester clinic has three registered nurses on staff and one nurse manager. All are trained and certified in limited obstetrical ultrasound. Three doctors from the Worcester area also volunteer their time at the clinic, which is funded entirely by more than 1,000 donors from the church community. Clearway Clinic does not take taxpayer funding or medical insurance and all services are free.

“When she’s just found out she’s pregnant, we want to be the first appointment she has. We will see clients as early as five weeks,” said Kelly Wilcox, the executive director of Clearway Clinics. She said Clearway will work with Bethlehem House and pro-life obstetricians in the Springfield area to support women in crisis.

“The three of us, all three different organizations, have the same goal and that’s to help that family choose life. We all work together. It’s just too much for a single organization to do … it’s beautiful we all work together,” Wilcox said. She also explained the power of offering ultrasounds to women who aren’t ready to make a decision.

“Not all of them do choose life but 79 percent do continue their pregnancy. So we have had 522 new moms, new dads, and new babies and we celebrate that. We also pray and grieve for those who didn’t make that choice,” said Wilcox. Both Bethlehem House and Clearway Clinic offer post-abortive counseling.

Parishioner Andreana Perkins organized the event. She said the parish held a baby shower for Bethlehem House two years ago. Perkins and her family have been committed to the pro-life cause for years and thought this event would be a gentle way of inviting people to join them.
“This gives people an opportunity to support these different agencies, where maybe they would not have been able to. It gives them a face for the organizations and allows them to see what’s involved to run these agencies.”

A video version of this story will be featured on an upcoming edition of “Real to Reel,” the Diocese of Springfield’s weekly television news magazine that airs Saturday evenings at 7 on WWLP-22NEWS.

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