Ouachita students will have new opportunities to volunteer and impact the community thanks to the newest project taken on by Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE).
The SIFE is partnering with a small executive board of community members and Henderson students to help open and support the Pregnancy Resource Center of Southwest Arkansas, which will be located in Arkadelphia.
“This will be a center where girls can come to get access to an ultrasound, help filling out insurance papers and receive counseling, all for free,” said Britta Stamps, president of SIFE.
The center aims to put a twist on the typical pregnancy center.
“There aren’t really any centers like this around,” said Stephanie Batsel, the project leader for SIFE. “Most centers are just geared toward saying ‘Don’t abort, don’t abort,’ and then once the women make that decision, there is nothing else for them.”
Batsel said this center will be the next step for a girl who either chooses to give her baby up for adoption or makes the decision to take care of the baby herself and will focus on helping them be effective and successful after their pregnancy by preparing them to enter the work force.
The emotional support provided for the young women and also fathers of the babies sets this center apart from many others pregnancy centers as well.
“Most of the girls we expect to come through the center are not growing up in a good home setting,” Stamps said. “They just need support and access to the right resources.”
In addition to helping women who find themselves in the scary and confusing situation of unplanned pregnancy, the center automatically becomes a place for students to volunteer their time and hearts.
“The center is going to need volunteers on a pretty regular basis for clerical work,” Batsel said. “They want to get a lot of community members involved.”
However, the lack of funds for the building has put a halt on the project. Local professionals such as doctors and counselors have already volunteered their services free of charge to women who come through the center. The only thing lacking is the actual building that will become the information center to connect those in need with the services that are available.
“We’ve already got a grant for a laptop and software to be used by the center for keeping up with all of the information,” Stamps said. “Now we just have to wait for enough money to be raised so that a small building can be found that they can use.”
Ouachita students still have time to donate spare change that will add up to a new hope for young families across the community. Donation boxes will be at the registers in Chick-fil-A and the Commons every day until March 6.
Through Ouachita and Henderson’s fundraisers, in addition to a larger community fundraiser, the team is hoping to completely pay for the building and get a head start on the rent for the center’s first year of operation.
Small donations directly impact the speed at which the pregnancy center can become available to the community and also opens a door for Ouachita students to get involved and volunteer with an off-campus organization that hopes to make the hardest part of pregnancy easier for any young woman who just needs encouragement and a little help along the way.
“Almost 83 percent of women who have had abortions say they wouldn’t have gone through with the procedure if they knew they would have had support through their pregnancy,” Batsel said. “It’s just that they’re scared and don’t know what kind of help is readily available to them. Hopefully this will spur something in a lot of these women where they feel confident to go ahead and take care of that life.”
Picture courtesy of Sam Pullara.
