COASTAL COMMERCE
A Safe Place
Sometimes things don’t go as planned— especially when you are young. Trying to make sense out of life can be a challenge for any teenager or young woman; however, when an unplanned pregnancy happens, it gets even more complicated. That’s when you want to know about the Lifeline Family Center in Cape Coral.
Earlier this year Ruth Graham, the daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, and her daughter Windsor Dienert-Bauder spoke at a Lifeline fundraiser. The mother-daughter duo shared stories about their own experiences, from dealing with a spouse’s infidelity and divorce to battling a son’s drug abuse and embracing Dienert-Bauder’s teenage pregnancy.
Besides being experienced speakers, both Graham and Dienert-Bauder have written about their life struggles in the books In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart and Step Into the Bible by Graham, and I’m Pregnant, Now What? and So You Want to Adopt, Now What? by Dienert-Bauder.
“Their experiences are sure to resonate with everyone who has had to endure hardship in their lives,” says Kathy Miller, the president and founder of the Lifeline Family Center.
From heartache to pregnancy to adoption, these are situations that Lifeline deals with daily. Since 1996, the nonprofit’s vision has been to create more than just a home for young women in unplanned pregnancies. The approach here is different. “We are comprehensive in that we eliminate all the outside stumbling blocks that stand in the way of a pregnant single young woman becoming self-supporting by her child’s birthday,” she says. Affordable housing, transportation and childcare are provided along with a learning center where the
girls can earn a GED. “We also provide professional counseling to address the root cause of the problem. The pregnancy is only a symptom,” Miller adds.
In addition to the residential program, Lifeline has an outreach ministry that offers adoption counseling, postabortion emotional and spiritual healing, and abstinencebased sex education for middle and high school students. Free pregnancy testing, non-medical ultrasounds and a 24-hour pregnancy-crisis phone line are also services Lifeline provides.
Although there are many success stories, Miller shares this one in particular:
One young woman found Lifeline online while she was in college. She was pregnant and convinced that to continue her education she would have to abort her baby. Her parents refused to support her. She was able to move into the Lifeline Family Center, finish the semester online, and receive help applying for scholarships so she could continue her education. While at Lifeline, she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, whom she chose to parent. She returned to college and not only completed her four-year degree to become an RN, but earned her master’s degree and is now working on her doctorate. Two years ago, she married and now has a second baby boy and a little girl that she and her husband adopted as a result of being foster parents.
Miller stresses that what may seem like the worst thing that has happened to you, can turn out to be the very thing that leads you to wholeness and a bright future. “Don’t panic. Call Lifeline. We will help you and help you find the additional resources you need so you can choose life for your child and succeed.”
For more information, visit lifelinefamilycenter.org or call 239-242-7238. The 24/7 helpline is 239-772-4673.