Life Pregnancy Resource Center offers variety of services to expectant women

Life Pregnancy Resource Center (LPRC) in Chino Valley offers pregnant women services with the hopes that they will not seek abortions.

LPRC offers its services free to everyone including single parents and married couples. It is also used by parents and grandparents of pregnant moms who want to help them..

LPRC Director Laura Christensen is the only paid employee of the center, and her husband Jamie is the chief fundraiser and one of 20 volunteers.

LPRC offers free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, counseling and a wealth of classes on parenting and life skills. LPRC also recently opened a baby store, but no money is used for the store as students who take the parenting or other classes earn points through the classes.

“The goal is to get women to take the classes,” Laura said. “We help them from pre-birth to up to 5 years old with everything including clothes, strollers and diapers.”

Laura said there is nothing else like LPRC in Chino Valley, but a lot of people don’t realize they are there.

“We provide life resources for people who otherwise might not have it,” she said.

LPRC is overseen by Word of Life Church, but the program is funded entirely through donations and fundraisers, including a car show in June. The donations come from businesses, individuals and other churches. St. Catherine’s is one of the bigger donors, but some gifts are anonymous as a donor from Texas sent in $7,700

Several other churches support the program, but LPRC is available to everyone free of charge regardless of their religion.

One of the fundraisers is a Walk for Life in September. Walk for Life raised $5,000 last year and $12,000 this past September.

“Every time we have a fundraiser we break a record,” Jamie said.

Jamie, an avoid golfer, hopes LPRC will add a fundraising golf tournament in the near future. He played in fundraising golf tournaments in San Diego, where the couple used to live.

“It’s not cutthroat golf, it’s just-for-fun golf,” he said.

Laura said the classes and counseling are led by volunteer advocates who are trained to help the clients. They are bound by law to report any cases of abuse, and can refer clients to other services that are needed that they don’t offer.

“They are trained to identify past or current abuses,” he said.

LPRC opened about eight years ago, but the Christensens just started their work there in April, and have seen it grow from seeing eight clients every two weeks to seeing about 25 clients every two weeks.

“The intent is to save babies and introduce them to life with Jesus,” Laura said. “Our goal is to meet the needs of the community. We want to help pregnant women with navigating their choices. We tell them how abortion will impact them, and talk to them about adoption.”

Laura said LPRC won’t condemn anyone for their choices.

Laura said many pregnant women fear if they have a baby that they will not be able to finish college, or they won’t be able to afford the baby financially. She said they can help pregnant women with those issues.

“We can meet the needs of these women so they overcome the fear. We want them to know that no matter what ‘we are here for you,’” she said.

LPRC will not refer pregnant mothers for abortion, but will offer post-abortion care. LPRC will show pregnant women an ultrasound after seven weeks to show that the baby is alive. Jamie said most women don’t realize they are pregnant until about seven weeks.

LPRC is also a safe haven, meaning an unharmed baby can be dropped off there without any questions.

The classes and counseling are also available in Spanish.

The Christensens met in San Diego where she worked in business and financial affairs at San Diego State University and he worked in the grocery business. They have two adopted children.

“We want to magnify our presence here and let people know that they will leave here with what they need,” Jamie said. “It’s all given to us and we want to give it away.”

Laura said sometimes they deal with tragic calls, such as when a woman was murdered and her sister took the baby and needed help.

“Just come in here and we will help,” she said.

For more information, telephone LPRC at 928-636-5025.