History of LifeCare Center
For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.
Isaiah 41:13
In the summer of 1992, a large number of people became concerned about the high pregnancy rate among teenagers in Franklin County. The Christian community saw a need for abstinence education and, in the event of an unplanned pregnancy, to provide tangible, physical alternatives to help save the life of the child and make carrying the baby to term easier for the mother.
The LIGHT House, a Christian home for unwed mothers in Kansas City, was contacted and agreed to help set up a Crisis Pregnancy Center in Ottawa. In 4 months’, time the community rallied and raised the $10,000 it took to get started. This satellite of the LIGHT House opened in January 1993. We provided free pregnancy tests, clothing and baby items, medical assistance, housing, and adoption services. Our mission was simply to save the life of the child and promote abstinence for singles as the only healthy method of birth control.
After seeing women and girls in our office for a year, we realized that the issues facing women with crisis pregnancies were always complex. It became evident to us that most of these women were entangled in destructive cycles that needed to be broken. We wanted to help these women break the cycles and encouraged them in making sound choices for their lives. After much prayer and discussion, our Board of Directors decided to set our own goals and become an independent ministry. In January of 1994, we became LifeCare Center for Women.
LifeCare continued along for many years with several changes in staff, Board of Directors, and volunteers. Our biggest concern through the next 10 years was not being able to establish a long-term relationship with our clients and helping them make changes in their lifestyle. In 2004 we became aware of a nationwide program for Pregnancy Resource Centers called Earn While You Learn. They supplied the worksheets and videos to begin parenting classes. By doing these classes the clients earned Baby Bucks to “purchase” items in our “store”. This worked well for us, but again we soon outgrew our space. In October of 2005, we moved to a bigger location.
The next year found us looking into becoming a Medical Clinic. Statistics proved that when a girl can see her baby, see it moving and the heart beating, they begin to bond with that child and will choose life for their baby. As we began to look at our options, miracles began to happen! Additional space was available to rent; contractors stepped up to do the work; a nurse asked us how she could help LifeCare; and in September of 2009, we were blessed with a brand-new ultrasound machine! This was given to us by the Knights of Columbus – locally as well as at the State and National level. It is no doubt that God was moving in the hearts of our community supporters, and he was providing for our clinic to become fully medical.
Now in 2023, we celebrated 30 years a life-saving ministry. It has been wonderful to look back and see how God has continued to bless and provide for our ministry. We have a staff of 7 people, a welcoming center, and robust programming to meet the needs of our community. The addition of our Fatherhood program and mobile ultrasound van has expanded the reach of our ministry, both to the fathers of unborn babies as well as to vulnerable women who might otherwise not come to our center. Our fatherhood program has created a unique opportunity to engage men, both as volunteers and as clients. We see that educating and mentoring men has a direct impact on the lives of pre-born and born babies, similar to our EWYL classes. The mobile van is equipped with an ultrasound machine so that we may take our life-saving services to where they are needed most. We focus on areas such as university campuses and rural communities to bring our resources to some of the most vulnerable women.
Despite changes in the political realm and within our organization over the past year, we continue to keep God at the center of all we do. We rely on his wisdom, grace, and mercy, and work as a team to bring the good news of Jesus to all our clients. We know that God is with us, and we do stand alone in our fight for life.