Friends of CCL

This week, we're featuring pacifiers and pull ups as our needed baby items! We need both boy and girl pacifiers as well as boy and girl pull ups in all sizes! Our moms work so hard within our Empowerment Program, and we strive to have the items they need for their kiddos! Thank you in advance for serving alongside us in this endeavor!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

We mention the Empowerment Program often, and so we wanted to make sure that we clearly explained what it includes for our clients! We have so many moms participating in the EP, and this is why we frequently ask for donations of diapers and wipes. Your faithfulness to partner with us in this ministry allows us to be able to provide this unique level of support and assistance to our clients, and we are so grateful! ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

For the next several weeks, we will be posting a couple of items we are in need of each week so that as you feel led, you can participate in helping us equip our clients with what they need for their children! For this week, we are very low on baby wipes and sizes 5 & 6 diapers. Please drop your donations off at the clinic any time during business hours. Thank you so much for your faithful support!

Happy Labor Day, Friends!

We had a great time at the August First Friday Event! We're grateful to be a part of the Jones County Chamber of Commerce and for the support of our community! A great time of food and fellowship was had by all! ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

For August, we want to say a huge thank you to our Board here at Choices! They each serve on a volunteer basis to help us serve our clients to the best of our ability. We appreciate each of them and the time and talents they are contributing to this ministry! Pictured from left to right: Stan Herrington, Treasurer; John Carter, Secretary; Steve Jackson, Chairman; Sheri Taylor, Member; Rena Register, Vice Chair; Loria Newsome, Member; Rachel Yoder, Member; Brittney Pickering, Member. Not pictured: Dan Thomas, Member.

Within the last couple of months, we have been able to start offering the Bright Course Curriculum in Spanish for our non-English speaking clients! We're so thankful to have the ability to offer this level of support and education to every mom that we serve! We're so excited to see how the Lord will use this curriculum to continue empowering women and families in our community!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Choices Clinic is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that depends solely on donations from churches, individuals, and businesses in the community to operate. We exist to ensure that every woman facing an unplanned pregnancy has the knowledge, support, and empowerment she needs to choose life for her child. For National Nonprofit Day, we wanted to give you a few ways that you can partner with us to support the women and families in this community! ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

August is National Breastfeeding Month, and we're celebrating a new service that we're offering our clients. Staff Nurse Michelle Smith recently became a Certified Lactation Counselor, so now she can offer prenatal classes & continued breastfeeding education after birth to moms in our Empowerment Program. We're so grateful to be adding additional education for our clients, and even more grateful for how well Michelle loves and serves our clients! Congrats, Michelle! ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Hey, Friends! We now have a blog to help keep all of you included in what is going on here at Choices! If you were previously on our email newsletter list, you're already subscribed to the blog! If you're not, visit choiceslaurelfriends.com and subscribe to make sure you get our monthly updates! We're so excited about a new way to get the word out about all that the Lord is doing in this ministry!!

With the abortion pill being more accessible than ever before, our mission to reach women as early as possible to educate, empower, and equip them to choose life is of utmost importance. In everything that we do, our aim is for the women in our area to know that they never have to face an unexpected pregnancy alone, and that she can thrive with both her future and her child. To serve them both, we must reach her first. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Is God calling you to use your gifts, talents, and time in the pro-life ministry right here in Laurel? Come join us for our next Volunteer Interest Meeting to learn more about who we are, what we do, and how you can be a part of what God is doing to support the women and families of this community. We can't wait to see you there! Call our office to RSVP today!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

We celebrated our expecting moms at our summer Baby Shower earlier this month! We greatly appreciate First Baptist Church of Laurel and the sweet ladies of the Joy Sunday School Class for hosting this for us and for our clients! The decorations were beautiful, and the food was delicious! Our clients felt loved and celebrated, and we could not offer this level of support without the faithfulness of our community to serve alongside us! ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Friends, we're asking for your help again! Our stock of these sizes is really low again, and we hate to tell our moms that we don't have what they need when they are working so hard in our Empowerment Program! The link below takes you to our Current Needs list on Amazon where you can find these items & have them sent directly to the clinic. Thank you so much for always coming alongside us to serve the families of our community!​​​​​​​​

https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/2YBXRJ6NCTLCN

The Lord has been doing amazing things through this ministry this year!! In 2023, we saw 22 moms total choose life, and in 2022, there were 25 moms who changed their minds! So, 2024 may just be a record-breaking year, and we are VERY thankful! The prayers, support, and donations of our community allow us to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the women we serve, and so we want to say THANK YOU! And let's keep going! God is not done yet!!! ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

For our July Volunteer Spotlight, we are highlighting Misty Lacy and Laurie Sumrall! They are a huge asset to this ministry, and we greatly appreciate their hearts to serve our mamas and babies! We say it often, but we honestly could not do what we do without the support of our volunteers! Thank you, ladies, for all that you do for Choices! ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Yet we know that anything intended to end the life of a child can never be safe, and that countless women have experienced hemorrhaging, infection, and even death from what they were told would be nothing other than a typical menstrual cycle. Our goal has and will always be to shed light on the darkness of abortion and empower women to make life-affirming decisions for themselves and their preborn babies.

Happy 4th, Friends!

If you've forgotten to bring your baby bottles back to church, here is your friendly Saturday afternoon reminder to grab them before you head out the door tomorrow! If you need to bring your bottles to Choices, we will be open Monday- Wednesday next week. Call us at 601.428.4357 when you arrive, and we will come get them from you! Thank you so much for your faithful support of this fundraiser each year!

Today marks the 2nd Anniversary of Roe V. Wade being overturned! We are very thankful for this monumental decision that brought the issue of abortion back to each individual state. We have seen many women choose life over the last 2 years who may otherwise not have if an abortion facility was still in driving distance for them, but we also have seen a rise in women seeking the abortion pill now that it is easily accessible in all 50 states, regardless of state laws. This calling has been said to best be described as holding confetti in one hand and tissues in the other, and that is never more true than today. Continue praying with us that we will see a day when abortion truly becomes unthinkable for every woman and family facing an unplanned pregnancy. We will always fight for life. ❤️​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

We owe a huge thank you to our generous friends at Westminster Presbyterian Church for raising money during their VBS to purchase SEVEN car seats for our Empowerment Program! It's been said many times, but we truly could not do what we do here to empower women to choose life for their preborn babies without the support of this community! WPC, thank you for partnering with us to serve local women & families!!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

There is a role for us all to play in the pro-life movement, and the MS PRA is how you as a business owner can partner with us to promote LIFE in our community! To apply for the PRA, follow the steps in the picture, or call our office with any questions you may have at 601.428.4357. We look forward to seeing how God will use the PRA opportunity to allow us to serve more local families!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

It’s time to bring your baby bottles back! When you arrive at the clinic with your bottles, call our office at 601.428.4357 and we will send someone out to get them from you. As always, thank you so much for your support of this ministry and helping us help moms choose life! 💙
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WJH Student Council, THANK YOU for your contribution of baby items for our Empowerment Program! We truly could not serve our community without support like this! We appreciate your time and resources to host this drive for us!!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Our goal is to shed light on the dangerous reality of the abortion pill. The abortion industry is deceptive and manipulative and wants women to think that taking this drug is easy, normal, and no big deal. We know that isn't the case, and so we will continue to offer honest, compassionate medical care with prayerful hope that women will know the truth and be set free to make a life-affirming choice by that truth.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Shouting a huge thank you to the South Jones Junior Beta Club for hosting a diaper drive for us over the last few weeks! We greatly appreciate your support and we LOVE when younger generations take part in the pro-life movement! These items will bless our mamas! ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Is your church wanting to get more involved in the pro-life movement? Embrace Grace is a great way to do that! For every single mom that we see who chooses life, we gift her a Love Box, which includes the items shown here. It includes an invitation to an Embrace Grace group hosted by a local church who provides support, Bible study, and discipleship to her throughout her pregnancy and beyond. It is our way of connecting women to a local body of Believers so that she can come to know Christ and flourish as a woman & as a mother. In Jones County, there are currently only 2 churches offering Embrace Grace- and we know that the more there are, the more women we can reach with the gospel and potentially change the trajectory of her life and even generations to come. If you are interested in hosting an Embrace Grace group at your church, send an email to [email protected] or visit their website, embracegrace.com.​​​​​​​​​We're so excited to see how the Lord will use this wonderful program to connect our clients to community and hope through your heart to serve!

The Mississippi Life Summit was a wonderful experience for our staff! It takes all of us individually and collectively to value and promote life in every situation. Thank you to our own Executive Director, Brittany Sherman, for speaking about the dangers of the abortion pill that we are battling against now more than ever in this post-Roe era, and to Attorney General Lynn Fitch for helping us all to ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Happy Memorial Day, Friends!