November 6-10 will be a special week of appreciation for pregnancy help organizations.
Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week was designed by Heartbeat International to honor those working within the pregnancy help movement. It’s the time of year when Heartbeat International sets aside a week to intentionally show extra love for pregnancy help centers, medical clinics, non-profit adoption agencies, and maternity homes.
The week includes special messages from personnel in and outside of Heartbeat International celebrating the vital work of the pregnancy help community.
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“We're grateful that God has called you into this, and so we want to take the entire week to do some special things,” said Jor-El Godsey, President of Heartbeat International.
Godsey noted that when pregnancy help servants minister to women facing unplanned pregnancies in practical and spiritual ways, they are also ministering to her unborn child and ultimately to generations to come.
“When you're touching those lives that you encounter, you're touching not just that generation and the generation that is to follow, but the one that even follows after that,” he said.
The blessing of this is reflected in the fact that there are now subsequent generations alive now because of pregnancy help enduring over the last 50-plus years, said Godsey.
“That's the beauty of pregnancy help that's been going on now for more than 50 years,” he said.
The work of pregnancy help touches lives and changes hearts and is now into the second and close to the third generation of those who are helped, said Godsey. He praised the tireless work put forth by pregnancy help personnel, pouring into the lives of others and blessing those whom they encounter in a pregnancy center and also ministering by faith to those who are yet to come.
“That is a powerful reality of how our work partners with God to touch the generations ahead,” Godsey said.
Tweet This: It is a powerful reality how pregnancy help work partners with God to touch the generations ahead
“You are known, you are loved, and through your work in the pregnancy centers you are changing lives,” said Andrea Trudden, vice president of Communications & Marketing for Heartbeat International. “And so, while we absolutely praise God for the pregnancy centers in your community and all throughout the world, we thank you for saying yes to the calling.”
Ellen Foell, international specialist for Heartbeat International, noted how there are days when one will be discouraged, and sometimes it's hard to come out of that discouragement.
“Heartbeat friends, wherever you are located, east to west, or north to south, you are not alone,” said Foell. “You're not alone in this work.”
“We all get discouraged regardless of our language, regardless of our ethnicity, regardless of the nation in which God has put us to work,” she said. “But our encouragement is we are not alone. God comes and he brings alongside us other people who are working in the mission.”
Currently, the Heartbeat family is in over 90 countries, Foell noted, with over 1300 affiliated locations in those countries, and nine network partners around the globe.
“And you're part of that,” she said. “We're all part of this together. We are the Heartbeat family. God is working His purposes out.”
Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League, said, “As frontline activists, we at the Pro-Life Action League know how urgently needed your assistance is to moms who are considering abortion.”
“We know so many wonderful pregnancy centers all over the country are doing a similar great job of reaching out to the community and offering a real choice to women,” he said.
“We are grateful here at the Pro-Life Action League for the critical role that pregnancy care centers play in our united effort to save babies from abortion, to help moms who are asking for our help, and to restore the American family,” said Scheidler. “So, God bless all of you for your work that you're doing. Know that we are praying for you, and we're honored to be working together with you.”
Melissa Ohden, founder and director of the Abortion Survivors Network, remarked, “A week is not enough to celebrate the incredible work that you have been doing over the years, and that you continue to do day in and day out for women like my biological mother, for babies like me, for families long after a baby is born.”
“So, I just want to again thank you, acknowledge you for all of your tireless, courageous work,” she said. “So, stay the course, know you're not alone in it. We are so grateful to be partners in this movement alongside you at the Abortion Survivors Network and help refer women to you, especially in this post-Dobbs era.”
Robyn Chambers, vice president of Advocacy for Children for Focus on the Family, said, “Pregnancy help organizations have stood on the frontlines for decades with life-affirming education, life-affirming information for men and women when they’re making a choice.”
“And we know you’re helping them make a choice for life,” she said.
“You are standing firm, and we know this last year has been really tough, but we want you to know everyone here at Focus on the Family wants to say, ‘Thank you.’ Thank you for what you are doing every single day. It is a privilege and a blessing to serve alongside you.”
Messages of gratitude and support for the pregnancy help community came as well from March for Life President Jeanne Mancini, Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins, Alliance Defending Freedom Media Relations Manager Bernadette Tasy, and Sarah Gabel Seifert, co-founder and president of EveryLife.
Each morning of Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week Heartbeat affiliates will receive an email with some encouragement and offers from Heartbeat’s Academy. Through this, Heartbeat hopes to inspire and inform.
The daily email will include:
• A chance to enter a drawing for Heartbeat International prizes,
• Daily deals to access a variety of trainings within the Academy, including a special webinar that week,
• An invitation for them to share prayer requests so we can pray for them personally at morning prayer,
• A request for them to tell us their stories to help us share the impact of their work through Pregnancy Help News,
• Social media images they can share on their own pages to tout their great work, and
• Videos from pro-life people from around the movement showering love on them.
The Heartbeat International website and daily emails will include links to a daily devotion that will be posted on Heartbeat’s Facebook page each day to invite pregnancy centers to pause and pray for the pregnancy help movement.
The goal of Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week is to acknowledge and give praise for the hard work those on the frontlines of pregnancy help do each and every day.
More information is available HERE.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News. This article has been updated with more messages of support and gratitude.
