What an amazing evening we experienced on March 2nd with more than 940 friends at our Abundant Life fundraising banquet! We cannot express enough gratitude to each volunteer, staff member, sponsor, and attendee for their enthusiastic participation in this important event. Their gifts of time, talent and treasure are saving lives right here in our community.
Our banquet began with a miraculous testimony from Ajia, a Lighthouse mom. Here is just a piece of her incredible story:
“This appointment would confirm whether my baby had survived the abortion pill and if I had started the reversal process in time, so I continued praying — begging God to save my baby. At Lighthouse, I held my breath while Jan, the Nurse Manager, performed the ultrasound. And then I saw my baby’s heart beating on the screen! It was the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen!” –Ajia
Our guest speaker, Care Net President & CEO Roland Warren, gave an engaging presentation on living a pro-abundant life and highlighted the importance of a father’s involvement from the beginning of pregnancy. He shared, “We need to celebrate and encourage efforts to help mothers AND fathers making pregnancy decisions come to transformative relationships with Jesus Christ.”
During our video presentation, we heard testimonies from Lighthouse fathers Jonathan and Albert, who are both walking in the light of the Lord, and seeing the benefits of their involvement with their new families.
Forty percent of all births today are to single moms, and that number is even greater in the community of Paterson. To decrease the number of fatherless births, Lighthouse wants to do MORE to lovingly guide couples towards God’s design for family and marriage – which is why the success of our banquet is so critical. We briefly shared at the event how our new Hawthorne headquarters location will facilitate that MORE in critical ways!
To date, the banquet has generated many new prayer partners and volunteers, along with $380,000 in gifts and pledges, which represents 80% of our event goal (to fund one-third of our 2020 life support at all centers and in local schools). Last year we celebrated 536 babies born to moms served by Lighthouse! Please join us in praying for an even greater impact in the coming year, especially to each baby’s father and family.
Did you check out our photobooth? Don’t miss those photos starting on page 6 of the photo gallery below.
