By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – The CENLA Pregnancy Center Inc. recently celebrated its sixth year of service to women and their unborn children with a redesign of its logo.
During a ribbon cutting and open house, Nov. 29, pregnancy center staff, board members and community leaders gathered to remember its past and focus on the future.
“The pregnancy center has experienced significant growth and expansion in six short years,” CPC Executive Director Kim Lyons told the Baptist Message. “The transformation of the ministry, the team expanding, the board growing and most importantly the clients we get to impact represents transformation and the new logo, represents just that, transformation.
Lyons said the CPC chose the logo redesign because this is a new season of growth and transformation for the ministry.
CELEBRATING SIX YEARS
Located on the Louisiana Baptist state missions center campus at 1254 MacArthur Drive in Alexandria since December 2017, CENLA Pregnancy Center, along with centers in Marksville (2019) and Vidalia (2022), has served more than 1,624 women, completed 6,761 client visits, 1,870 pregnancy tests and 1,269 ultrasounds, and provided over 25,000 resources through counseling, referrals, classes and material support.
The centers are saving lives by offering such services as pregnancy decision coaching (by trained advocates), free pregnancy tests, free ultrasounds, information about pregnancy options, referrals to mental health counselors and obstetrician-gynecologists, safe house and affordable housing recommendations, adoption support (referrals to assist expectant mothers with an adoption plan and limited financial assistance) and post-decision support that includes parenting education as well as recovery groups for those who regret having an abortion.
Additionally, the center meets basic needs for mothers and their babies by distributing food, baby beds, diapers, women’s hygiene products, car seats, and clothing.
The ministry also offers abortion pill reversal services. The center is listed on a national hotline that connects CENLA Pregnancy Center staff with women seeking to reverse the effects of the first pill taken for chemical abortion. Since January, they have seen four women who have opted to take the reversal pill.
“The success rates of those woman who come in during the first 36 hours is very high,” Lyons said. “We have and continue to encounter moms who take the first pill and change their mind. Offering the reversal option and allowing them the opportunity to see their babies through the ultrasound we offer is truly a gift. There is so much hope that is dispelling some of the evil that our world experiences through the horror of abortion.”
PRAYERS NEEDED
Lyons said that in addition to the financial and volunteer support, the pregnancy center staff also values the prayers of so many individuals in the area.
To that end, the center offers two options for individuals to become active prayer partners.
Individuals can sign up for text messages that alert them when a vulnerable client enters the center and also commit to pray for a client and her baby throughout the duration of the pregnancy.
More than 400 individuals have signed up so far to participate in one or both programs.
Those interested can sign up by emailing a request to sign up to info@cenlapc.com.
Lyons said. “Sometimes I will be working in my office, traveling to our satellite center or in a meeting, and I’ll get an alert to pray for a client. I am overwhelmed with joy knowing our community has so many prayer warriors who will stop at a moment’s notice and ask for intercession for a woman in need.”
