Note from Angie

I recently attended a conference for other agencies like ours. As part of that conference all attendees were asked to bring something to share about ourselves, our work and what first brought us to this type of ministry.
While working on this, I realized that many of you who support our efforts through our Center may not know my story and what first led me to found this Center so I thought that I would share this with you. My father was a preacher. I was the middle child and the only daughter. My father died of lung cancer while I was a teenager. Instead of turning to God for comfort, I turned away from him. I went through a phase in my life where I was angry at God. I was Jonah, but instead of finding myself in the belly of a whale I found myself on board a Navy ship. I joined the U. S. Navy, which led to several changes in my life. One night, while I was alone on watch, I made my peace with God, which just goes to show that God is always there, no
matter how far away we feel we can run. I have some very funny stories about my time in the Navy, mostly due to the fact that I’m afraid of heights, the dark and, perhaps ironically, the ocean. Also during my time in the Navy, I met the man I would later marry. During the course of our marriage I found myself having to learn how to deal with the affects of his addiction to drugs. I found myself living through physical and mental abuse at the hands of my husband, someone I loved and who was supposed to love me. Eventually his addiction and the abuse led to our divorce. I found myself a single mother struggling to make ends meet and raise my daughter. I didn’t qualify for any assistance because I had a job and was working. I later remarried — this time to a man named Earl, who also adopted my daughter Bethany. While I was attending college, I worked at Elizabethton City Schools as Director of the Extended School Programs. I heard that there was an abortion clinic operating right here in Elizabethton. I interviewed the doctor who operated the clinic as part of a project I was working on for one of my classes. It was around this time that, at the age of 29, God laid it upon my heart to start a ministry to reach out to these young girls and women
who felt that abortion was their only option. I started out by developing an abstinence education program which I started presenting in the schools. The Lord has blessed this ministry and allowed it to grow beyond anything I had imagined when I started. Our Center will celebrate it’s 11th anniversary this year. We work with clients from the time they come to us with their pregnancy until their child is one year old. We offer free ultra sounds to abortion-minded clients. We have seen a 100 percent success rate of abortion-minded clients choosing life once they experience seeing their child’s life through the ultra sound. We still teach the abstinence program that got us started, only now it has been expanded and meets state-approved curriculum for freshmen wellness classes. We also teach parenting classes to our clients and we have served as liaisons between our clients and adoptive parents in several private adoptions. During the summer months while school is out of session, we host our Summer Food Program. Many of the children in our community come from low income families and qualify for free or reduced-price meals at school but during the months when school
is not in session, some of these children do not eat in a way that properly supports their growing minds and bodies. This is a very vital program as it helps provide meals which the children might otherwise not have. Churches throughout our community along with other non-profit organizations pitch in together with us to make sure that these children are getting the nutrition that they need. We also operate the Tree House Community Center, which is located in the Arney Hill Community. The Tree House is staffed entirely by volunteers. During the summer months, many of our community churches host events and special programs at the Tree House for the children. During the school year there are after school activities including help with homework. There are many more programs that are a part of our center. For more information on our programs or how you can help contact our Center at (423) 543-4673.

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. ~ John 15:9