Holly Tritt – Page 2

Dear Friend,
When we received Sharon’s story, we were overwhelmed with joy. Stories like Sharon’s (below) are only possible with your continued support.

In May of 2020, I received a message from a family member that my daughter was 12 weeks pregnant. My husband and I have always taught our children that babies are a gift from God and have life from the moment of conception. I was in shock to find out she was pregnant, let alone receiving the following message: my daughter was planning to have an abortion.

I immediately reached out to a few close friends, family members and our church staff for fervent prayer to save this baby. An abortion appointment had been scheduled around 18 weeks. Up until her appointment, my daughter went to Morning Star at least three times and had the opportunity to sit with Morning Star’s counselors and talk through her feelings and her options. Through the power of prayer and invaluable counseling, God graciously saved my grandbaby. My daughter cancelled her abortion appointment and instead chose a family from our church to adopt her baby.
Our family has been involved with and supported Morning Star over the years in numerous ways, including regularly participating in Morning Star’s Shooting Star 5K Run and Walk for Life. This year I was so happy to walk in honor of the baby in our family that was saved thanks to Morning Star.

Thank you, Morning Star, for all you have done and continue to do for our family. We never thought that your organization would play this important of a role in our lives. May God continue to bless your organization,

Sharon*

Sharon’s story is one of 260 lives we celebrate during this year’s pandemic.

While businesses and churches were shut down due to COVID-19, abortion clinics in Pennsylvania remained open. In response, Morning Star took swift action to consolidate our staff in Harrisburg to provide vital, life-saving services to vulnerable women. Morning Star was able to provide and support Sharon’s daughter with three medical services appointments, which included essential ultrasounds and counseling. Had Morning Star closed like many pregnancy centers, Sharon’s daughter and her child would have been in grave danger.

Women, like Sharon’s daughter, were also close to our hearts when we chose our new location in the city of Harrisburg. Sharon’s story conveys the importance of providing compassionate, nonjudgemental, and confidential counseling. It is such a blessing that our new building allows us to counsel 700 additional women each year. And, like Sharon’s daughter, many of our mothers need more than one ultrasound appointment before making their life-saving decision. Morning Star’s new clinic building provides double the ultrasound examination rooms, allowing us to increase ultrasounds by 1,000 each year. The significance of this number is astounding since we know an ultrasound is a window into the womb, allowing a mother to see her child for the first time; and to continue to see her baby grow with each ultrasound she receives.

On November 16 our new Harrisburg office opened its doors expanding our reach in the community! This will allow us to save even more hearts and lives, like Sharon’s daughter and grandbaby.
Sharon’s grandbaby was not planned or expected, but will forever change the lives of Sharon’s family and the grateful adoptive parents. What an awesome gift Life is.

On a typical day Morning Star clinics provide pregnancy testing, ultrasound exams, abortion education and options counseling, STD testing and treatment, material assistance like diapers, formula and clothing, and community referrals. We do all this at an average daily cost of $1,307.

By sponsoring a day of Morning Star operations with a donation of $1,307, you can give the Gift of Life this holiday season. Every woman who walks through our doors will receive life-affirming and empowering services that day, through your generosity.

Or perhaps you can support a young woman like Sharon’s daughter, who needs three ultrasounds before she makes a life-giving choice. For $489.90, you can provide these essential services and give the Gift of Life to a precious baby.

For $163.30, you can provide a young woman who is considering abortion with a single medical services appointment. This visit includes pregnancy testing, confidential options counseling,
and a life-altering ultrasound exam.

Looking back over the trials of 2020, we’ve grown in our appreciation of the precious Gift of Life. We now celebrate the birth of Jesus. And we also celebrate the lives of babies and their mothers who chose Life thanks to YOUR support of this ministry. We could not have made it through this challenging year without your help and God’s grace.

Thank you for all YOU do for Life – it is the greatest gift Morning Star could receive!

Download Our 2020 Winter Appeal Letter

*Names have been changed for confidentiality

During this pandemic I spent time counseling in the clinic, including one young couple who I counseled alongside veteran counselor Leslie Moyer.

Mia had been dating Trevor for a year. They were both actively involved in their high school and had plans after graduation…until Mia found out she was pregnant. They came to Morning Star panicked and too terrified to tell their parents. When they sat down with me, they admitted they were very seriously considering abortion. I listened to their situation and discussed their options.
A positive pregnancy test and ultrasound confirmed Mia was 5 weeks pregnant — she was very early. When they left that day, they were still considering abortion, but they understood they had time and they agreed to come back the next week for another ultrasound appointment. Both returned to Morning Star three more times for ultrasounds and counseling, and they were encouraged to talk with their parents. On their fourth visit, Mia and Trevor told us they had finally spoken with their parents and received the support they thought they would never get. They put a plan into place and chose Life for their baby!

For 48 years, Morning Star has empowered women to make the most important choice they could ever make: the choice for Life. Over the last three years, Morning Star has seen dramatic growth: a 95% increase in the number of women choosing life for their babies, a 138% increase in the number of pregnancy services appointments and a 45% increase in the number of clients receiving STD testing.

This growth is something to celebrate, but it also created a new need. After significant prayer and consideration, we realized we had reached capacity at our current location and wanted to be strategically located where we were needed most.

Here’s where it gets exciting… We’ve found it!

Our client demographics show that 63% live in the greater Harrisburg area. By moving our Harrisburg clinic and administration building to 2509 North Front Street, we are more centrally located to reach this community. These women—our clients—need a community of support, truth, care and education.

Our big announcement of the new building was made during Morning Star’s first-ever Virtual Life Saving Banquet on September 3rd. Those supporters who joined us that evening understood the impact we can make together in our community. The banquet officially kicked off Morning Star’s $1,000,000 Capital Campaign. Those funds will pay for the purchase of our new building, the renovations required to make the building a medical services clinic, and the equipment and furnishings needed for pregnancy services, education and administration.

Praise God, we have been very blessed to have an anonymous donation of $400,000 from a supporter who has a passion and commitment to supporting and defending our most vulnerable. In addition, we want to thank Senator John DiSanto for helping Morning Star attain a $250,000 state grant toward the purchase of this building.

That leaves Morning Star to raise $275,000 to reach our Capital Campaign Goal…and we need your help! By being a part of this Capital Campaign, YOU are directly affecting lives in Central Pennsylvania for generations to come.

YOU can support clients like Mia and Trevor with a Capital Campaign donation — an immediate gift or a pledge over a three-year period.
A Legacy gift will be recognized with a memorial plaque containing a family name or dedication to bless the work that takes place each day on our premises. Some of our Legacy giving opportunities include:

Capital Campaigns are a special kind of giving, raising funds above and beyond those needed for regular operations. This location allows our ministry the potential to double the lives saved and lives changed by the services we offer.

The time is now. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU.

You play a special role in what comes next. We can’t do what we do—saving LIVES and impacting LIFE—without you!

Click here to learn about:

our new building’s benefits and features!
how our new building will enable us to change more hearts and save more lives than ever before!
opportunities to donate and support this milestone in Morning Star’s history!

For such a time as this,

Morning Star Sonographers Introduce Mothers to their Babies for the First Time

Lena* was facing an unplanned pregnancy. She had been pregnant before and had chosen to have an abortion. Now she was unsure what she wanted to do, so she turned to Morning Star.

After finishing a confidential counseling appointment, Lena was introduced to one of Morning Star’s sonographers for her ultrasound. As the sonographer showed Lena her baby on the screen, Lena began to cry. It was a mixture of joy and sadness. The baby Lena was currently carrying was approximately the same gestational age as the child she had aborted a few years ago. Lena explained to our sonographer that she was told her first baby was “just tissue.” Now she saw for herself that her child was truly a baby.

Morning Star’s sonographers are a part of these very personal and emotional experiences of women seeing their babies for the first time. “To show someone that it’s an actual baby and to see them change their mind is one of the most rewarding parts of this job,” says Ann, a Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer (RDMS).

Last year Morning Star provided 1,447 ultrasounds, a substantial increase from 1,119 in 2018!

Ann gives a glimpse into a typical ultrasound appointment, “One of the most typical responses from our clients is, ‘Oh, that’s a baby!’ If they are only a few weeks into their pregnancy, many women will exclaim, ‘That little dot is my baby?!’ Or, if they’re further along in their pregnancy, moms will say, ‘Oh, wow! That really looks like a baby!’” During their ultrasound appointments, Ann shows them Morning Star’s seven-to ten-week-old fetal models. These life-size replicas are invaluable in allowing moms to see and understand what their baby looks like.

In 2019, Morning Star provided medical services appointments to 713 women at risk for abortion, as compared to 561 in 2018.

Lori, also an RDMS, says she loves being in the position to educate the mothers. “Many women don’t know what to expect during their pregnancy. They don’t know all of the changes their body will undergo and the transformations and growth that will take place with their baby from week to week. These ultrasounds are a wonderful tool to not only show them a visual picture, but to empower them with the knowledge they need to understand what is happening throughout their pregnancy.”

During an ultrasound, Morning Star sonographers answer a large variety of questions from our clients, ranging from which parts of the baby they are looking at, whether it’s a boy or a girl, and how the female reproductive system works. However, Lori says the most typical questions are “When am I due?” “Where is the heartbeat?” and “Does everything look normal?”

575 women chose life in 2019, an increase of 95% from 2017!

“Let’s not forget the impact of the ultrasounds on the fathers of the babies,” says Morning Star RDMS, Angie. “It is so important for the father of the baby to be at these appointments and to give the mother the support she needs. We always keep in mind that he is just as scared as she is, and when he sees the ultrasound and sees his baby for the first time, it is usually shock and disbelief.” Angie explains, “The mom has been experiencing pregnancy symptoms all along. The morning sickness, tiredness…but for the father, the ultrasound makes this real for him. It’s pretty emotional. Even the manliest man can cry when he sees his baby for the first time.”

Being the first person to see a new human being is probably one of the most rewarding parts of being a Morning Star sonographer. However, there are moments that can hit hard, both for our sonographers and the families. “My job is a gift,” says Angie, “but, like with all jobs, there are difficult times. For me it’s seeing a fetal demise. Even if the mother thinks she doesn’t want the pregnancy, it’s still a traumatic and emotional time.”

Gina, RDMS, who joined Morning Star in August of 2019, added to Angie’s sentiment, “One of the hardest parts is knowing that there are things you just cannot fix. We see women in all types of emotional stages at Morning Star. When there is a mother who is excited about her pregnancy but the ultrasound shows that her pregnancy is not viable…you know the grief that is coming behind this information.”

Morning Star provided over 3,650 appointments to the more than 2,000 clients who visited our three clinics in 2019.

The services Morning Star provides have an impact on Central PA like none other. “There’s so much more to this ministry than what many realize,” says Gina. “I heard about Morning Star when I first started school. My instructor was a volunteer, and I loved hearing about the impact Morning Star was making on the lives of others. Morning Star is about supporting women as a whole, both their mental and emotional needs. We come alongside women, from the beginning of pregnancy all the way through a child’s birth and beyond. I wanted to be a part of that. I have the skills that enable me to share in that, and that is a beautiful thing.”

Morning Star has opportunities for RDMS and other medical professionals interested in using their skills and expertise to support women or couples experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. For more information, contact us. ★

*Name changed for confidentiality

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