For Quad Cities Pregnancy Resource Center, which serves women in Moline, Ill., the dream of a new location that began a decade ago is now a reality, as of March 19.
Set along a busy roadway just a few miles from the location the center had occupied for several years, Quad Cities’ new home is ideally suited to meet the needs of a growing clientele. In addition to an upgraded location, the new building is a major upgrade for Quad Cities’ parenting classes, volunteer training and more.
The center also runs a mobile ultrasound unit, and its new digs include a climate-controlled garage perfect for protecting their investment.
“This has been a total miracle and an answer to prayer,” Quad Cities’ executive director Susan Skoglund said. “We’re anticipating serving more people. It’s amazing how ideal this place is, very private and confidential.”
Skoglund, who has been in her current role for eight years, has kept a vision for an upgraded location in her mind as her center has expanded its services and stood against the state of Illinois’ attack on pro-life conscience rights—all the while serving women with life-saving help.
Last September, Quad Cities purchased the building with plans to remodel ahead of this week’s relocation. Along the way, donors, supporters and neighbors pitched in to defray remodeling costs, either by slashing prices or donating material and labor to help the center open on time.
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“There have been so many gifts,” Skoglund said. “We have donors who are movers. I called to ask if they’d move just the heavy stuff, but they said, ‘No, we’re going to move everything.’ We know it’s God.”
Serving women since 1990, Quad Cities offers free pregnancy testing, ultrasound services, parenting and fatherhood programs, as well as abortion recovery. In the summer of 2016, Quad Cities put its mobile ultrasound unit, “the Hope Van,” on the road to help reach into the outlying areas between its Moline location and its site on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River.
Like many centers around the country, Quad Cities has experienced a recent dramatic increase in the number of abortion-minded and abortion-determined patients in recent years. The Planned Parenthood clinic in the area closed last year—both a cause and effect of Quad Cities’ expanding reach in the region.
Early this year, “Jessica,” a married woman with children, went to Iowa City for an abortion after visiting Quad Cities. Once inside, she changed her mind, walked out of the abortion business and came back to the pregnancy center for help.
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“She walked out of that abortion clinic because of what she saw and learned here,” Skoglund said. “She ended up making an adoption plan with Bethany Christian Services."
With a new, enhanced facility in Moline, Skoglund and her team are hoping to reach more women like Jessica with life-affirming choices.