A Rose in Bloom, March 2020

Dear Friends and Volunteers,

We are committed to giving you a more regular update on the happenings at The MaRiH Center.  Therefore, we are sending this – the very first – online newsletter, A Rose in Bloom.  Our goal is to provide a quick, but short, update twice a year.  This, along with the print mailings we send in June and November will provide a better sense on our progress and the great work done by the committed volunteers who strive each day to serve those who “walk through our doors.”  And there is great news to share!

A Child is Born

I am mindful of how precious each day is and how we can celebrate and recognize good and wonderful news. There is a beautiful young mama who gave birth in February to a beautiful baby girl. She and her family were concerned about having another child and came to the Center for a way to “make it go away”. They weren’t positive they were pregnant but were strongly feeling “no more children.” They came into the Center and we did a free pregnancy test. It was positive. We are not a clinic, so we cannot tell a woman she is pregnant. We can only say the test was positive or negative. We offered to pay for a sonogram and a doctor visit to confirm the pregnancy. We wanted them to ask questions and share their concerns with a medical professional. We met at the clinic, she, her husband and two young boys. On the sonogram table we saw that she did indeed have a child in her womb, AND she was 20 weeks pregnant, AND it was a girl. Wow!  Emotions were very strong. They took some time and the papa, with tears in his eyes, said he “didn’t want to take it out any more.”

Baby girl, “J.C.” Born 7 lbs. 6 oz. What a cutie!

We have shared their journey, helped them in many many ways and now they have added to their beautiful family a sweet, beautiful little girl. We will continue to walk the journey with them as long as they want us and we are so grateful to know them.

We Launched our New Website

Well, we’ve done it!  It took nearly 30 years, as up until now, we had a “web page” – a simple page with some general information on it and not much more.  It served us well over that time, but we thought we could reach more moms and families if we made ourselves a little more accessible to the public.  So, check it out!  Special thanks to two incredible volunteers – Anick and Delia – for making this possible.

We Met the Year-End Challenge

Again this year, we had a generous benefactor that offered to match all donations at year-end up to $15,000.  We met and exceeded the goal.  Your generosity made all of this possible. Here is a quick summary of our results:
Funds donated:      $59,440.00
Challenge Funds:     15,000.00
Total Raised:           $74,440.00
We couldn’t have done it without you.  Again, on behalf of all the volunteers at The MaRiH Center, thank you for your support and generosity.

Beth
Director

P. S. The MaRiH Center is an all-volunteer organization and no person has or ever will be paid for their time or efforts – this helps keep our costs low.  We rely 100% on the generosity of our donors to operate and deliver on our important mission.  Find out how to donate today.