Almost 10 years after opening PRC of Rolla, CEO and co-founder Joseph Dalton and his wife, Jane, developed a new opportunity to help abortion-vulnerable women and families; by procuring vehicles for women and families in need.
An abortion-minded couple received the first car. The husband and wife came to PRC of Rolla (Pregnancy Resource Center of Rolla) in 2017 from out of town. Their vehicle’s engine had blown up, and the man had a 45-minute commute to work. His mother had given the couple a ride to Rolla.
“They literally were coming in to get an abortion,” Joe recalled. “His mother had driven, like, 130 miles to here, and they thought we were an abortion clinic.”
Because of their lack of a working vehicle, the man told Joe and Jane, who had been meeting with them, there was “no way he’s going to be able to work, so we’re going to get an abortion.”
Joe’s response?
“I said, ‘What if I gave you a car – how would that change things?’”
And the husband’s response:
“He cried and asked why we would do such a thing,” Joe said. “I said, ‘Why wouldn’t we?”
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An unused car that had been donated to the ministry was sitting stored behind the PRC building, awaiting the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life.
“The man who had donated it told me he wanted to give it to us to save a baby,” Joe said.
By giving the car to this couple, the pregnancy help center saved a baby that day, and has been doing this for more than five years, with plans for center to continue doing so into the future through its Cars for Clients program
More cars, more lives saved
PRC client Mariah also benefited from receiving a car. Mother to two sets of twins, she had also aborted a set of twins, and during her unplanned pregnancy in 2020, she had decided that if the pregnancy were once again twins, she would abort a second time.
“However, the thought of having another abortion was crippling,” she told Pregnancy Help News previously.
The vehicle she and her boyfriend owned barely held the six family members, and Mariah even wondered if a vehicle were made large enough for what would ultimately be eight people (yes, Mariah’s ultrasound at PRC of Rolla revealed she again carried twins).
After several visits to the pregnancy center, Mariah learned the owner of a local car dealership wanted to gift her and her family with a vehicle large enough for her family. That gift, and the connection she experienced with PRC Rolla personnel, including Joe and Jane, led her to choose life for her fourth set of twins.
Mariah is not the only multi-baby mom who received a car. PRC of Rolla and its supporters also gifted a larger vehicle to Janey, a woman pregnant with triplets, Joe said.
“She was considering abortion because she was technically homeless, and she already had a four-year-old,” Joe said.
Janey found housing with Rolla’s maternity home, called Bridges, and she completed the program to help her become self-sufficient. Bridges provides a safe place to stay and so much more, Joe said.
“It’s transformational,” he told Pregnancy Help News.
“Our goal is, when they leave here that they're on their own two feet and they're making it on their own, so no HUD housing, no food stamps, completely on their own,” said Joe. “Janey was one of those moms. Those babies are now five years old. Janey is also a homeowner now, so with our support she’s gone for being homeless to being a homeowner.”
Traci, a young college student, is one of the most recent beneficiaries of PRC of Rolla’s Cars for Clients program. She also lived at Bridges, and she received her vehicle a few days before the 2022 Fourth of July holiday.
Connecting community and clients
The vehicle program helps the community actively take part in empowering women to choose life for their unborn children.
“Nobody wants to get an abortion,” Joe said. “They just feel like they don’t have any other choice.”
“Basically, we’re giving our supporters permission to get themselves a new car,” he continued. “Like, if you've been thinking about getting a new car, this might be your time because this is what we need (a car for a client), and that's been the case several times. We just reached out via Facebook. or to people we knew, and they often spread the word.”
PRC of Rolla, along with pregnancy centers around the world and supporters of pregnancy help centers, show women in many different ways that they do have a choice.
Tweet This: “Nobody wants to get an abortion. They just feel like they don’t have any other choice.”
Lack of emotional support, lack of finances, and lack of empowerment are typically what prompt women to consider abortion and/or to have one.
However, when a community and a pregnancy center partner to provide support emotionally, materially, and educationally, women become empowered to change their lives, such as finish college and buy a home. They find that ‘hands-up’ needed to give them courage and hope.
“Sometimes they need a little help, sometimes they need a lot of help,” Joe said. “We want them to know we're here for them.”
“The bottom line is there's no mountain too high – we’re going do whatever it takes to get there,” said Joe. “God’s doing it, and you know God has plenty of money and plenty of cars.”
