Archive for the 'Club News' Category

When I wrote last month about the very successful TeenSpeak 2010 conference, I mentioned that this year’s conference included a talk titled, “The Anatomy of a Pro-Life T-Shirt,” given by my Pro-Life Action League co-worker Matt Yonke.

In his presentation, Matt dissected the most common styles of pro-life T-shirts, showing several examples of each. His talk served as a great jumping-off point for TeenSpeak’s first-ever Pro-Life T-Shirt Workshop.

Attendees were divided into 20 groups, and each group was given a T-shirt, a set of fabric markers, and 45 minutes to create their own pro-life T-shirt. To ramp up the competition factor, the teams were told that the winning design would be professionally printed and sold on ChristianShirts.net, and that each member of the winning team would receive one.

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We recently got an e-mail from Fran Shiffler from St. Joan of Arc Parish in Hershey, PA letting us know about their Life Teen group’s T-shirt designs for Rock for Life’s National Pro-Life T-Shirt Week.

Last year, over 2,500 of the St. Joan’s Life Teen shirts were worn in 152 schools (public, Catholic, & private, from pre-schools to colleges) in 11 states. The shirts caused many people to rethink their position on abortion, and they helped save at least one baby’s life from abortion!

My favorite among their 2010 shirts is this one:

The other designs are shown here, and you can download an order form here [PDF].

*** Please note that if you decide to order one of their shirts, the deadline on the order form is listed as March 8, but I just spoke with Fran, and she told me it’s been extended to March 15.

We just heard from our friends at Human Life Alliance about their current Campus Impact Contest, and I wanted to let you know about it too.

Human Life Alliance has some of the best pro-life materials available, and if your club can come up with creative ways to use their materials to share the pro-life message on your campus, you could win $500!

The contest is open to high school and college clubs, and the submission deadline is Wednesday, March 31, 2010. There’s more information on the contest here [PDF].

Just released this morning, here’s the seventh installment of The Mona Lisa Project, a series of undercover investigative videos from UCLA student Lila Rose and Live Action:

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Lila Rose shared some big pro-life news this week.

Lila, who just last month shared about her groundbreaking undercover investigations of Planned Parenthood at our TeenSpeak conference, has shone a light on the web of deceit that surrounds Planned Parenthood clinics across the country.

Now her work is getting the attention of authorities in Alabama, where Lila and her team at Live Action filmed one of their undercover videos.

Here’s what Lila had to say: (more…)

The TeenSpeak 2010 Essay Contest question was:

Think ahead to the next six months. What could you do to help fight abortion during that time? Be specific about what action you could take and why it would be helpful.

And the winner of the $1,000.00 scholarship? Julianne Winkle. Have a read. It think you’ll agree she did a splendid job. Congratulations, Julianne!

Second place, a $500.00 scholarship, went to Theresa Simeo. Her essay follows Julianne’s. Well done, Theresa!

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“This was amazing!” “Completely eye opening and inspiring.” “Super fun!” “Best ever!”

These are just some of the comments that sum up the reaction of the 130 teens and adults who attended TeenSpeak 2010 on January 30. This was not only the largest crowd we’ve ever had at a TeenSpeak conference, but without a doubt the most enthusiastic as well.

The day began with a compelling talk by Live Action’s Lila Rose titled “Undercover at Planned Parenthood”.

In her talk, Lila told about her experiences at Planned Parenthood abortion clinics across the country, where time after time, posing as a 13-year old impregnated by her much-older boyfriend, she has exposed statutory rape cover-up at Planned Parenthood.

The audience found Lila’s talk very eye-opening and inspiring. Finoy Lukose, a sophomore at St. Ignatius College Prep, commented, “This talk really opened my eyes to what truly goes on at an abortion clinic, something I was unfamiliar with.” And Alexie Gillespie, a junior at Lake Zurich High School, noted, “I was so inspired by Lila by start a pro-life group in my own community.”

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Since we released our Pro-Life Curriculum three years ago, we’ve shipped hundreds of copies to pro-life teens and adults across the country and around the world, and I’m amazed at the positive feedback we continue to get.

A few months ago, April Kesterton, the director of Tulare-Kings Right to Life in Visalia, California wrote us to say:

Thank you so much for the Pro-Life Curriculum. It is totally awesome, and I know if will be a big help to students around here. The thought of starting a pro-life club can be intimidating. Your resource is so thorough and just walks them through the process and provides everything they need to be successful.

Theresa Williams, a high school student from Illinois, wrote to tell us:

I just wanted to say thank you for putting together the amazing Pro-Life Club Curriculum. It is exactly the approach I need totake to present a persuasive argument to my class. It also solidified once again my pro-life stance. Thank you very much for your efforts in creating such a binder with every possible fact, rebuttal, and pro-life alternative.

If you don’t already have our Pro-Life Curriculum, you can order one here. (more…)

Just released this morning, here’s the newest video from Live Action — an eye-opening look into the “information” and “counseling” abortion clinics provide:

When we were writing our Sharing the Pro-Life Message handbook at this time last year, one of my jobs was to make sure the information in the “Life in the Womb” section was accurate. As for the question of when the embryo’s heart begins to beat, I came across various sources that indicated this happens between 18-24 days from conception. I can’t remember seeing any source that listed anything outside this range.

That’s why it’s so ridiculous that the Planned Parenthood employee would say that “heart tones” — and not a “heartbeat” — don’t start until 7 weeks, and that a heartbeat doesn’t start until “17 or 18 weeks”.

Nurse and pro-life blogger Jill Stanek has more on this.

I’m sure Live Action’s Lila Rose will have a lot more to say about this video at our TeenSpeak conference next month. Register now!

Previous

• Live Action in Alabama
• New Videos from Live Action
• Tennessee Planned Parenthood Covers Up Sexual Abuse of Underage Girl
• Indiana Planned Parenthood Covers Up Sexual Abuse of 13-Year Old Girl
• Another Indiana Planned Parenthood Covers Up Sexual Abuse of 13-Year Old Girl
• Planned Parenthood Threatens Student with Lawsuit
• Show Me the Money!
• Show Me the Money! Part 2

The National Catholic Youth Conference was HUGE. Total attendance was over 22,000!

This was our first time going to an NCYC, and we’re really glad we came! We had a booth in the Thematic Park, and we were thrilled at the response we got from everyone who stopped by.

We gave out all 1,000 Precious Feet pins we brought, as well as hundreds of pro-life stickers provided by Stand True, and pieces of pro-life literature provided by Human Life Alliance. We also had some great conversations with several teens who are interested in starting their own pro-life clubs.

Everyone we talked to said they were having a great time at the conference. Two things in particular we heard a lot of great comments about were the Eucharistic Procession through the streets of downtown Kansas City and Jason and Crystalina Evert’s “Romance without Regret” talk.

I’d also recommend you read Bishop Jaime Soto’s excellent homily from the closing Mass on Saturday night.

We’re already looking forward to being at the next NCYC two years from now in Indianapolis.

If you participated in the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity on Tuesday, you were one of over 200,000 people in 25 countries who gave up their voice for those who will never have a voice.

The next day, my friend Bryan Kemper of Stand True, which sponsored the Day, wrote this:

I know that I am going to hear about babies being saved every year, but I still get choked up as I start to read the stories. I am writing this report about 24 hours after getting the first stories back and we have already heard about 27 babies lives saved from our efforts yesterday. Think about that: 27 precious human beings who were scheduled for death will now live their lives.

Two of those stories were unique to accounts from any of the other years; I heard back from one girl

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Tuesday, October 20 is the sixth annual Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity.

For one day, people all over the world will give up their voices in solidarity with babies who have had their voices silenced by abortion.

It’s still nearly three weeks away, but already, students from over 2,200 schools—along with over 130 homeschools, over 50 businesses & ministries, and over 600 individuals/non-students—in 21 countries have registered to participate!

Are you willing to give up your voice for a day for those who will never have a voice?

For more information and to register, go here. (more…)

In solidarity with our friends at the pro-life youth organizations Stand True, Students for Life of America, and Survivors, we join them in calling all students to take a stand against abortion in a special way this Tuesday, September 8.

On that day, President Barack Obama will address America’s returning students in a speech welcoming them back to the classroom.

This Tuesday, we’re asking pro-life students to wear plain T-shirts with “Abortion Is Not Health Care” written in large letters across the front to protest the President’s current support for nationalized health care that will include taxpayer funded abortions. Or, if you are not able to make your own shirt, simply wear a shirt that already has a pro-life message.

And, if you’re asked to fill out a survey during or after the talk, respectfully ask the President to take a stand against the killing of unborn children.

Finally, if you face opposition from your school, the attorneys at the Alliance Defense Fund are prepared to help — their phone number is 1-800-835-5233.

With the new school year right around the corner, we’ve heard from a number of students recently who are looking for assistance in getting pro-life clubs started at their high schools.

These are the requests we especially love to get, since helping get new pro-life clubs up and running is one of the main reasons GFL exists.

It’s for this reason that we created our Pro-Life Curriculum, which is designed as a manual for forming and maintaining an effective pro-life club.

Before I worked for GFL, I was a high school teacher, and our pro-life club used one of the first versions of the curriculum when I served as its moderator. Once we started using it, it made things a lot easier, because we no longer felt we had to “re-invent the wheel” every time we had to plan a meeting or a club activity.

If you’re looking to start a pro-life club in your high school, I would encourage you to check out our Pro-Life Curriculum. You can find out more about it — and read selected chapters — here.

And, as always, please feel free to contact us if you need any further help.

When I talk with members of pro-life clubs, one of the most common questions I hear is, “How can we get more involved?”

One of the suggestions I make is to organize a fundraising event for a local pregnancy resource center. Not only does this help a pro-life club become a greater part of the local pro-life community, but it also provides much-needed money for a place that offers lifesaving help to women who are pregnant, scared, and don’t know where else to turn.

As for particular fundraising event ideas, a pro-life car wash is one of the easiest to sponsor — not to mention one of the most fun. If your club is interested in doing one, make plans now to participate in the 4th Annual Wash for Life on Saturday, September 19.

Over the past three years, more than 6,000 pro-life teens across the country have sponsored Wash for Life car washes and raised nearly $180,000 to benefit pregnancy care centers in their local communities.

You can help make this year’s Wash for Life even more successful! I hope you will consider being a part of it.

There’s more information available here.