Adapted from a post originally published at leavenfortheloaf.com
I came to the Pregnancy Resource Center of the Monadnock Region (PRC) at the invitation of executive director Evelyn Konig. It’s just north of Main Street in Keene, New Hampshire, in a neatly-maintained little office building that looks like it once served as someone’s home. I stepped through the office’s open door and found a woman busily sorting through a pile of clothes – Evelyn herself, doing what needed doing outside of regular office hours.
“Hello! We just got a big donation of baby clothes and now my boutique ladies are going to have to figure out where they’ll go.” Warm and energetic, she welcomed me into the office as though I were an old friend.
My visit stretched into several hours as our conversation flowed. Evelyn constantly made reference to the PRC’s board, to her staff, to the local churches that support the PRC; she kept pointing outward. Her energy filled the room.
She’s a doula, a manager, and a fundraiser. She’s outspoken, yet a careful listener. “Nobody left me notes” when she came to the PRC. Now, she could write a book full of her own notes, if she were so inclined.
A new facility
At the time I visited, the PRC was in the middle of an expansion into several new rooms. “I prayed for this place for ten years,” Evelyn told me. “We’re growing in width, but I want to grow in depth.”
There was no wasted space. Every room had a purpose. Windows were large, making each room sunny and welcoming. Furnishings were arranged to foster comfort and conversation.
One room in particular struck me with its home-like atmosphere. Evelyn confirmed that it was a place for private conversation and client confidentiality. “This is where we will do parenting classes, where we’ll go through the Bible with them, talk about choices and what their alternatives are. Anything and everything has been talked about in this room. Even if [the clients] are not churchgoers…they say ‘it’s so nice here. I can breathe here.’”
Support for the work
She’s a careful shopper for the PRC, and she puts out the word when she’s looking for something special. “My desk and office furniture all came from donations.”
Fundraising is not something with which Evelyn’s comfortable. “I call it stress-raising, not fundraising. …[I concentrate on it] only one day during the year, and that’s our banquet. [The rest of the time] if you want to give, give; that’s between you and God. My plan is to pray and ask God to provide.”
At the time I visited, larger needs ranged from recruiting a medical director to finding a large table to accommodate meetings. Smaller donations for ongoing needs such as clothing and diapers were being dropped off as the facility expansion was in progress. Piece by piece, one project at a time, this center is adapting to the needs of its community.
A spectrum of services
Evelyn said that of the pregnant women she has worked with in her decades of service, “the majority have chosen life for their babies. And a lot of it is that I think they know we’re here. I meet with every single client. I am not an office person. I’m a minister.”
Women approach the PRC at a time of vulnerability and uncertainty about carrying a pregnancy to term. “Even if they’re still kind of unsure, we tell them ‘you’re unsure because you’re unsure of your support.’” The PRC team is ready to listen and respond.
The women on staff come from backgrounds that include recovery coaching and post-abortion counseling. Nurses are on staff so that ultrasounds can be done onsite as part of pregnancy counseling. The counseling is provided on a confidential basis by client advocates who are trained in trauma-informed care. The PRC is a Christian ministry, welcoming clients of any faith. Services are available, not imposed: “We don’t push anything,” Evelyn said.
Her husband, a pastor, “started this journey with me.” He volunteers as a pastoral counselor, adding to the PRC’s range of services. Evelyn is happy to work with church leaders, and to challenge them when necessary. “They don’t get this in seminary. They need to be taught about offering compassion and hope” to women and girls with unexpected pregnancies.
To no one’s surprise, the center can provide diapers, wipes, and other baby-care things. There’s a boutique with clothing for babies and toddlers, and even a few maternity outfits.
It’s what comes after the birth that can surprise someone unfamiliar with PRCs. In the postpartum period, “we do an after-baby check. A lot of times we’ll do a meal train, so we’ll have meals going out to them. I drop off diapers so I can see what their environment is, how they’re doing. And then about the fourth week, a couple of weeks before they go to their six-week [postpartum] check, they’ll be coming in and finishing their parenting classes, sitting down and meeting with an advocate, and just hanging out with us.”
Those parenting classes are not just for young parents. “More and more grandparents are having custody of children.”
Life-skills training is key. Evelyn said an important thing is “help our moms finish their education.” Then there’s budgeting; “a lot don’t know how to do that.” Clients are encouraged to honor appointments at the PRC and at outside agencies as well. “Our point is, let us help you understand your importance, by showing up for yourself. Because you’re not just showing up for yourself. You’re showing up for your child.”
She wants to offer as many services as possible in-house. “Why am I going to give the woman a safe place to be, a safe place to unload her emotions, a safe place to tell us what’s going on, gain her trust, and then ship her to another social [agency] that doesn’t have that?”
Even so, the PRC maintains working relationships within the community and with state agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services. Locally, the PRC has had referrals from a nearby domestic violence prevention center.
When it comes to clients’ needs for transportation and housing, Evelyn doesn’t hesitate to reach out. “What we can’t do, our donors can do.”
The PRC is affiliated with several nationwide pregnancy care networks and with a group of southern New Hampshire pregnancy care centers. These coalitions help with training and mutual support for the PRC staff.
Standing ready
I asked Evelyn if she kept the PRC’s address off of social media, in view of attacks on some pregnancy care centers since the 2022 Dobbs Supreme Court decision. Her answer was an emphatic No.
“I said to my board ‘God put us here.’ We cannot say ‘what if, what if.’ We have to step out in faith. And if we don’t step out in faith, then by us not doing the job we’ve been called to, for a woman to have another abortion, do you want to be silent? I didn’t get into this to be silent.
“I’m just very careful not to own the ministry, because it’s not mine, it’s His. He opened it up with hearts that were obedient, and when the day comes when it closes, I hope that’s when abortion is unthinkable. Until then, I tell the ladies ‘keep oil in your lamps….and work like it’s your last day.’ And they do.
“I don’t know what the future holds for me. God is telling me stand ready.”
Header image: pexels.com
Ellen Kolb 