In the month of December, our goal is to raise $350,000. Because of your financial partnership with Alternatives Pregnancy Center, you, too, are in this daily work.
For 40 years, you have been advocating for life right alongside the staff and volunteers. Over 100,000 lives have been impacted, and only God knows all the other ways this work has affected individuals and communities.
God has honored and multiplied your heartfelt generosity for His glory in all communities of Denver. His sovereignty and provision through YOU, has allowed this incredible work to continue to be known as a primary life-affirming resource in Denver. Lives are being changed, families united and babies born.
Reflecting on the year as it comes to a close, what would you say is the biggest challenge you faced in 2022? I imagine in such a complex year, it might be very difficult to pick only one! At least that’s how it has been for me.
Alternatives meets clients in life-changing challenges every day where they have to make decisions about life or death; like the young lady and her boyfriend who came to us looking for support and services. She had a positive pregnancy test and was curious about her options, mainly abortion. Her body language reflected how guarded she was and in no place to be vulnerable. Her partner attended the critical ultrasound appointment with her a few days later. The sonographer gently revealed to both of them that they were pregnant with twins. As you can imagine, the exam room was filled with immense emotions as an even bigger, complex and difficult decision was contemplated. What a challenge to face for a young couple. Through the care from Alternatives and their own process of discovering their strengths, she is in prenatal care and expecting to welcome twins into the world next year.
Not every life challenge has a happy ending. Literally, every single day, life-altering decisions are made by teens, women and men; who often are listening to the toxic and terrifying voices of cultural narratives around unplanned pregnancy. The normalization of abortion is everywhere. Political candidates are using it as their platform. American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has changed their medical language to support abortion and communities are divided on the rhetoric surrounding “reproductive rights.” Abortion is one of the most divisive social issues of our day.
Globally, the abortion issue can feel so heavy that we become easily overwhelmed and throw up our hands in desperation to an easy fix. Yet, if we can peel back the layers and get down to the individual lives of people in our community, those struggling to make a decision about their unplanned pregnancy, suddenly the humanity of the abortion issue is at the forefront. How can we come together to see and hear every woman and man in their gut-wrenching human struggle?
The team at Alternatives is in the trenches. As we listen and learn to truly understand the fear, shame and complexity behind what is driving each individual to abortion, we are acknowledging the multitude of pressures that influences their feeling that abortion is their best option. We meet them exactly in that place and seek to understand the why behind that feeling. Can you imagine their desperation in a crisis amidst our current cultural narrative? It is heartbreaking.
Alternatives is honored to have a mission that is the answer to this critical issue. We exist to empower those we serve to walk through their heartbreak with hope. For the first time, they are able to see a path forward with joy towards choosing life for their baby. Through the client advocate’s relationship with each individual who walks through our doors, they can take a step on that new path knowing their physical, emotional, social, spiritual and financial needs will be addressed in a comprehensive way. For every person we encounter, we keenly understand “life decisions require life support!”
Thanks to YOU, Alternatives is providing this kind of life-giving support through programs and services at no cost every day. The year 2022 was historic for us. We saw client and patient numbers increase in almost all categories of service. Here are some of the key life supports YOU funded in 2022:
- Successful launch of Momma Mentoring with eight women actively working with a mentor
- Three volunteer Momma Mentors trained and serving with five more in the training process to allow even more clients to be matched with a Mentor
- 244 students served through educational workshops
- Over a 30% increase from last year in life-changing ultrasound scans to women facing a pregnancy decision
- Opened a new clinic space in Downtown Denver
- Grew our partnerships with the church community
Because of your financial partnership with Alternatives Pregnancy Center, you, too, are in this daily work. For 40 years, you have been advocating for life right alongside the staff and volunteers. Over 100,000 lives have been impacted, and only God knows all the other ways this work has affected individuals and communities.
God has honored and multiplied your heartfelt generosity for His glory in all communities of Denver. His sovereignty and provision through YOU, has allowed this incredible work to continue to be
known as a primary life-affirming resource in Denver. Lives are being changed, families united and babies born.
Alternatives needs your continued financial partnership in 2023. To move us into the new year, we set a goal of $350,000 to raise in the month of December. There is much work to be done. Looking ahead, you will see new additions to programming. Watch for a rollout of expanded Men’s Support Services!
Together, with God’s strength, we will carry this work forward.
In Christ,
Lauren Castillo
Board President
“In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:37–39
