Elsinore Valley Pregnancy Resource Center

The Elsinore Valley Pregnancy Resource Center sees approximately 20 women/girls per week in face-to-face counseling on pregnancy-related issues. The women are given a self administered pregnancy test and then they discuss with our volunteer counselors the results of the test and any issues concerning sexual activity. The Center is open approximately 25 hours per week Monday through Saturday. When the center is closed, telephone calls are routed through a live answering service, which forwards the caller's contact information to us. We receive about 20 calls per day, of which 90% are pregnancy-related, and some result in counseling over the telephone. The Center provides information on area doctors for prenatal care. The Center does not refer anyone to an abortion clinic. We also distribute donated baby clothes, diapers and formula, assisting approximately 60 families per week with these basic supplies. We also maintain a list of local resources available to those families and we regularly host other community organizations that provide self-care information and resources, such as dental care. Our volunteer counselors receive extensive training. We hope to see more clients in the coming years as our presence becomes better known. We have an active Board of Directors which plans for future activities.

Women or girls who are pregnant are given the chance to enroll in our Bridges to Parenthood program. This program is run presently on every Wednesday evening of the month. We have found that some of our clients do not have basic everyday life skills. Bridges offers them the opportunity to learn how to take care of themselves and their new babies. The program distributes good quality baby items donated to us from the community. The women enrolled in the program need to be active in learning mothering skills. Those who demonstrate a commitment to becoming better educated can receive the baby items free of charge. We do not simply hand these items out without a corresponding effort on the part of the expectant mothers. Another important benefit of the Bridges program is the friendship the women experience among themselves. Many of the women or girls in the program are single. Pregnancy can be a frightening and uncertain event for a young single girl. We have successfully expanded the Bridges program from monthly to weekly.

The Center has one main educational activity for the broader community, namely our annual Walk for Life, which also serves as a fundraising event. The Walk for Life is a festive, family-oriented event which includes public speakers, music, meet and greet opportunities, and the Walk itself. We hope to be invited back into the local High Schools by the Health Science teachers to provide abstinence counseling in their classes.