Heartbeat International honored four individuals with its Peggy Hartshorn Servant Leader Award at its 2026 Annual Pregnancy Help Conference in Cincinnati.
Heartbeat is the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the U.S. and globally.
Servant Leaders Awards recognize people who have given of themselves sacrificially in the service of life as both servants of others and leaders in their own right. The first awards were given to individuals and couples who were some of the “giants” in the first 25 years of Heartbeat’s history.
A servant leader is someone who has a servant’s heart and mind, values, and attitudes, and also a leader’s skill, vision and ingenuity, and creativity.
The award’s namesake is Peggy Hartshorn, longtime board chair and former president of Heartbeat International. Heartbeat began awarding the honor in 1996 and more than 100 people have been recognized.
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The 2026 Peggy Hartshorn Servant Leader Award recipients are:
Dr. Laura Lewis, executive director of Pregnancy Care Canada, a national association of over 80 pregnancy care centers, began in her role at the pregnancy help organization in May 2016 after working for 22 years as a family physician. During her time in medical practice, she saw the need for education, support, and practical options for women and men facing an unexpected pregnancy.
Kirk Thomas is an insurance broker who has over 30 years’ experience providing commercial insurance to medical pregnancy clinics, maternity homes, and other Christian medical entities. He has been helpful to pregnancy help organizations when their coverage was cancelled for their pro-life services.
Aimee Huber has been Executive Director of First Choice Women’s Resource Centers in New Jersey for more than 34 years. She has been the face of the Centers in the First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court concerning a controversial investigation of the Centers by the state’s attorney general Matthew Platkin.
Christopher Bell is the co-founder of Good Counsel Homes, a non-profit providing maternity housing and community-based services with four homes, three in New York State and one in New Jersey. More than 8,500 mothers have been helped by Good Counsel since its founding in 1985 and more than 1,300 babies have been born in its homes. Good Counsel has helped to open similar homes in eight states and offers guidance and other assistance for people interested in opening maternity homes based on the Good Counsel model.
Tweet This: Heartbeat International honored 4 individuals with its Peggy Hartshorn Servant Leader Award at its Pregnancy Help Conference in Cincinnati.
Heartbeat International’s 55th annual pregnancy help conference ran March 25-27.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.
