THE BEGINNING

I have had a desire for a long time to simultaneously help families who have an unexpected pregnancy and to save the lives of the unborn. In fact, I was on the board of a pregnancy center while I pastored in New Jersey. I thank God for those men and women who are working to establish laws to protect the unborn. Without a doubt there are many different ways for us to get involved and to help save the most vulnerable among us. But God has wired me a little differently. I am energized by the idea of creating a center where women know they are heard, loved, and they are told the truth.

About 1 year ago I began asking people if they would like to get together to discuss the idea of starting a pregnancy center here in Watertown, South Dakota. The timing was right! God had obviously been preparing the people of our city with a desire to get involved and make a difference.

THE PROCESS

So I have been working with a fantastic group of individuals all for the purpose of starting a pregnancy center here in Watertown. We have met every two weeks and sometimes these meetings have lasted for up to two hours. It’s probably a good thing that we did not know entirely what we were getting into from the beginning because it is a lot of work. I am so proud to have the opportunity to work with this board. They have been pouring their heart into making this center something really special for the Watertown community.

People and churches in our community have given generously which has allowed us to keep moving forward.

Because of the efforts of the board we are officially a 501C3. We have a building. People are working like crazy to get the new building renovated so that we can get opened up. At this point in time the plan is to have Haven Center open by the end of this year.

We started interviewing candidates for the position of Executive Director. It can not be overstated just how important this position is when it comes to the success of the center. We talked with a number of wonderful people. Eventually we made our decision and now we have a fantastic Executive Director working for Haven Center. I won’t give her name away right now because our press release will be going out early next week!

THE QUOTE THAT STOOD OUT TO US

During the process of getting Haven Center up and running our board visited Option 1 in Brookings. We had heard many wonderful things about Option 1 and wanted to see what we could learn. One of the things that stood out to us from their Executive Director was this statement, “About 50% of our clients are coming to us from Watertown.” This insight made a huge impact on me and the rest of the board. It strongly reinforced the idea that the city of Watertown desperately needed to establish a pregnancy center as soon as possible. Which, of course, is what we have been working to do.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Haven Center is in need of your support! If you would like to support Haven Center, please visit havencenter.org. To keep informed on new developments, please follow Haven Center on Facebook @havencenterfriends or sign up for their mailing list via their website.