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Moms' and dads' days
are very special to us!
Would it surprise you that two of our favorite holidays here at HTPRC are Mother's Day, which we just celebrated this past Sunday, and Father's Day, which falls on June 18 this year? My guess is probably not, and that these are special days for you as well!
As partners in this beautiful ministry, we each have felt that extra God-given nudge to encourage motherhood and fatherhood. We pray for every woman and man who walks through our doors to choose Life for their unborn children.
Through ongoing relationships with these new parents, we get the chance to speak into their spiritual questions and help equip them with practical help and training in being good mothers and good fathers.
Praise God for the way He faithfully enables and sustains this ministry in East Austin and in Dripping Springs through partners like you! And soon, Lord willing, we will be reporting back to you on a new mentoring program for our moms and a special fatherhood project for our dads, developed in partnership with two local churches in East Austin.
Both are scheduled to launch this summer.
In this newsletter, we introduce you to one of our super volunteers, Julie Nold, who joined us in 2014 and has helped get us organized in so many ways! We also tell a story of one of our moms who learned the value of reading to her children, thanks to the BookSpring program.
Also in this letter, we are making our 2016 annual report available to everyone. Just click on the link down below to request one.
Let me close by saying you all stay in my prayers. I thank God for you more than I can ever express. Whether you give of your time, talent or treasure, we cannot do this sweet and precious work that is so close to the Heart of God without you. I truly thank you all from the bottom of my heart!
In His Love for Life,
Debi
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Our moms learn about literacy
with an assist from BookSpring
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Our client advocate Katie has an infectious smile, and she was beaming recently as she related the story of a client who has really taken to our book program.
The client, a mom with a 4-month-old, a toddler and a kindergartner right now, began to take home some titles from our rapidly growing inventory of children's books, and the results she shared with Katie were heartening.
"Her toddler has been asking her to read to her twice a day, sometimes the same book over and over," Katie said. "I praised her for her efforts and encouraged her to keep reading with them and swapping new ones, too."
The mom was surprised to learn that literacy starts before kids reach school age. The subject is near and dear to Katie. She worked for two years as a literacy interventionist at Austin ISD, and is trained on literacy tactics and obstacles. "It is so important for kids to have age-appropriate books at home and, of course, a loving adult to read them," she said.
Since last fall, Heart of Texas PRC has partnered with BookSpring, an Austin nonprofit that provides books to at-risk communities and schools. Once a month, we get 100 books that we give freely to our moms. They include toddler books, parenting books, bilingual books and early childhood Bibles, making it easier for parents to share the story of Jesus with their children.
In addition, moms who choose to participate in our incentive-based Earn While You Learn program encounter reinforcement of Katie's message about the wisdom of reading to their kids when they study lesson 9.4 - Ready to Learn.
To learn more about Earn While You Learn, click
HERE
To learn more about the BookSpring program, click
HERE
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'I like fixing things,' and
Julie Nold does it to a T
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"As a nurse, I have always been excited about saving lives." Julie Nold is a wife, grandma of 4 and retired RN, who has faithfully served at HTPRC since spring of 2013. "I saw a need in mentoring women, and I also saw the need for organization and help with administrative details behind the scenes."
Debi invited Julie to the first annual banquet in 2013 to be a table host, and she said she left that night more determined than ever to continue to support a ministry that was so worthwhile.
Julie loves mentoring and the whole problem-solving process, she said. "I like working with people and I like fixing things that are worthwhile to fix." She is our primary data entry person, the author of our policy manual, and the manager of our banquet team.
Julie sincerely has a heart for women! On a recent Thursday morning, she set aside the client files she was inputting so she could pray with one of our client advocates who had just finished a challenging appointment with an abortion-minded mom. A follow-up ultrasound had been successfully scheduled, and she joined the client advocate in praise and prayer that the mom would continue to step forward with courage and choose life.
Thanks in large part to Julie's dedication to excellence, the details at the center don't hit the floor. We have confidence that our data entry is accurate and up to date, we have a policy and procedure manual based on highest industry standards, and our yearly banquets are well planned and well run.
There are many opportunities -- large and small -- to volunteer at HTPRC. Please check out the link below to learn more about them!
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You can help Google help us!
It costs nothing, and takes very little time
The Internet is Heart of Texas PRC's
most productive tool in reaching women facing unplanned pregnancies. We have enlisted experts to program our website so we appear higher up on Google searches when women use words like "pregnancy" or phrases like "where can i get abortion information?" Web experts tell us that more than
90 percent of those who Google never look past the first page.
Getting HTPRC high on the page is key, but positive ratings from those who know about us
make our Internet presence even stronger! That's where you -- our donors, volunteers and prayer warriors -- can help. Would you please grant us the blessing of
clicking the link below, which will take you to our Google page (see the image above), and let you rate us up to 5 stars and leave a comment? The red arrow above points to the "leave a review" button. If you don't have a Google account, it will ask you to create one, which takes only a few seconds.
We will be forever grateful!
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Please consider Heart of Texas Pregnancy Resource Center in your giving plans for 2017. Learn how easily that can be accomplished by clicking on the "donate now" button or by going to our partner website,
heartoftexaspartners.org.
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Our 2016 Annual Report Is Ready
Last year was a huge success for us. We added a second site, had our lobby remodeled, changed our name, and welcomed 381 new clients. Read about all that and more by ordering a PDF of our annual report. Just click
HERE
to request a copy.
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