There is something different about sitting across the table from a pregnancy help leader in their own center. We can talk on the phone, connect over Zoom, and exchange emails throughout the year. And I value all those opportunities. But there is just something about walking through the doors of a center, meeting the team, seeing the client rooms, and hearing firsthand about the women they are serving and the challenges they are facing.
In September, I had the opportunity to spend three days traveling through Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts on my way to Heartbeat International’s and the Coalition Leadership Network’s Northeast Retreat. I visited pregnancy help organizations along the way, some Heartbeat affiliates and some not. I went because I wanted to encourage them. But I came away incredibly encouraged by them.
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Weary, but faithful
One thing stood out to me as I traveled through the Northeast: many of these leaders are tired. I heard it in their stories. Sometimes I could see it on their faces. They talked about staffing challenges, turnover, succession planning, homelessness among their clients, the need for maternity housing, difficult cultural and political environments, and simply not having enough people to do everything they want to do.
But it wasn't just the challenges of leading a pregnancy help organization that weighed on them. As we talked, I was reminded that these leaders are carrying so much more than their ministry responsibilities. They are also caring for aging parents and family members, raising children, spending time with grandchildren, navigating personal challenges, and trying to balance the needs of their families with the demands of ministry leadership.
And as anyone who has served in this work knows, those responsibilities don't always fit neatly into a workday. It's hard to leave the concerns of the center at the office, especially when you know the needs are great and the resources are limited. Some are carrying an incredible amount themselves.
At one center, I heard about the challenges of navigating an unexpected leadership transition. At another, a very small team is carrying much of the day-to-day ministry. More than one longtime leader talked with me about retirement and the uncertainty of who will eventually take their place.
But even in the weariness, I saw so much passion for this work. They are still dreaming. Still planning. Still serving women. Still looking for ways to reach more people in their communities. They may be tired, but they are still showing up.
Every center had a story
One of my favorite parts of this trip was how different every center was. And I loved hearing about the people who have been called into this work and the paths that brought them here.
My first stop was Carolyn’s Place in Waterbury, Conn., which has such a special story behind its beginning. In November 1991, Father Robert Rousseau was leaving St. John the Evangelist Church in Watertown, Conn., when he heard a baby's cry. He discovered a newborn baby girl in a box near the church entrance, wrapped in a t-shirt. She was just hours old. The baby was named Carolyn Marie and she was eventually adopted. But her story didn't end there. The experience moved members of the church community to establish a pregnancy help ministry so that no woman would have to face pregnancy alone. Carolyn's Place opened its doors the following year. What’s even more interesting is that the very priest who found baby Carolyn is still serving on their board today, nearly 35 years later!
I also had the opportunity to tour both their original building, now used for administrative offices and parenting programs, and Crossroads, their beautiful new medical location across the street, which opened in November 2025. It was wonderful to see how a ministry that began with the story of one little baby has continued to grow and serve women and families all these years later.
At Hope Pregnancy Center in Cheshire, I learned about candles they make and sell to support their ministry, including special candles created for those who have experienced abortion or miscarriage loss. They also give these candles to clients as meaningful gifts, offering a small but thoughtful reminder that they are loved and cared for. We also talked about their desire to someday provide maternity housing, something that came up several times during my travels.
At ABC Women's Center in Middletown, I had a wonderful conversation with one of their leaders, a licensed marriage and family therapist who brings a unique background and a wealth of experience to the center. We talked about the opportunities to provide counseling and additional support to individuals and families, as well as some exciting ideas for expanding their ministry. I was especially encouraged by the passion and vision for reaching more people in their community.
I also met a registered diagnostic medical sonographer (RDMS) who divides her week between two different pregnancy centers, providing ultrasounds two days at one center and two days at another. I loved seeing that kind of collaboration between organizations and the willingness to share resources and expertise.
And I was fascinated by the different backgrounds of the people I met. One executive director spent 15 years working as a 911 operator before entering pregnancy help ministry. Another leader had previously worked as an ESPN sportscaster before eventually pursuing a career in counseling. Another had managed a Starbucks before bringing those leadership and management skills into the pregnancy center setting.
I also met a woman who shared her journey from being strongly pro-choice to becoming a Christian and eventually becoming involved in pregnancy help. She had been so passionate about abortion rights that she had even advocated legislatively. But after becoming a Christian, she described her change of heart as though the scales had fallen from her eyes. Today, she is serving women facing difficult pregnancy decisions. What an incredible testimony of how God can change a heart!
What different backgrounds and experiences! Yet each of them has found a place to use their gifts and skills in serving women and families. Those are the kinds of conversations you don't have by reading a website.
Different communities, different needs
Throughout my travels, I was reminded that while pregnancy help organizations share a common mission, the communities they serve and the challenges they face can look very different. Some centers are serving significant immigrant and refugee populations. Some are seeing more homelessness and housing instability. In rural communities, centers are serving women across large geographic areas with limited staff and resources.
I also heard about centers serving increasingly younger clients, including girls still in middle school, some as young as 12 years old. It's heartbreaking to think about the circumstances some of these young girls are facing, and I'm grateful there are organizations providing a place where they can find support, compassion, and hope.
At more than one stop, maternity housing came up. Some leaders dream of opening a home someday. Others are already working toward it. And several talked about the difficulty of serving women who simply do not have a safe place to live.
Staffing was another recurring concern. At ABBA Women's Choice in Portland, Maine, I met with a staff member who wears multiple hats at the center. She is a cardiac RDMS who received additional training in obstetric ultrasound so she could serve women through pregnancy help. In addition to her responsibilities at the center, she teaches cardiac sonography at a local community college and also works at a hospital. When I arrived, she was there by herself finishing with a client before she could meet with me. It was another reminder of just how much responsibility some of these small teams carry. I was impressed by her dedication and the many ways she is using her medical training to serve others.
At Zoe Women's Center in Rockport, Maine, I learned about their plans to open a maternity home that will eventually house three moms. They have already made significant progress, but like so many organizations, they are working through the challenges of finding the right staff and resources to make it happen.
There were also reasons to be excited
I don't want to give the impression that my trip was heavy, because it wasn't. It was so fun, and I laughed a lot. I met some wonderful teams. I saw beautiful centers. I heard creative ideas. I met leaders with big visions for what could come next.
And I saw relationships that reminded me how connected this movement really is. At Options for Women in Rochester, N.H., I heard a remarkable story about their director's mentoring relationship with a pregnancy help leader in another part of the world. What started as an opportunity to provide guidance and encouragement has become so much more, with the director and his center finding practical ways to support and strengthen the work of a fellow pregnancy help ministry thousands of miles away on the other side of the world.
We also talked about the importance of continuing to grow and adapt as an organization. After recently attending a leadership gathering, this director returned with a renewed sense of vision and a desire to make some changes to help his center move forward.
At Clearway Clinic in Worcester, Mass., I heard about their hope to eventually open a location in Boston, an incredibly challenging environment for pregnancy help work. They know it won't be easy, but they're willing to do it anyway.
That was something I saw throughout the trip. There are real challenges in the Northeast. The cultural environment can be difficult. Resources and staff can be limited. Some leaders have been doing this for a very long time. But there is also vision.
Sometimes you just need to show up
Probably my favorite part of the entire road trip was praying with these leaders. At most of my stops, before I left, I asked if I could pray for them and their ministry. A couple of times, they turned around and prayed for me and for Heartbeat. I can't really explain how much that blessed me!
What also surprised me was how genuinely thankful people were that I had come. I wasn't there with an agenda. They didn't need to prepare anything for me. I wasn't evaluating their center or checking up on them. I just wanted to meet them. I wanted to hear what was going well and what was hard. I wanted to meet their teams. I wanted to know what keeps them up at night and what they are excited about. And I wanted them to know that someone else cares about the work they are doing. Somewhere along the way, I realized again how important that is. Sometimes ministry really is as simple as showing up.
Tweet This: Behind every center name, statistic, affiliation, training, and email is a person who said yes to important and sometimes difficult work.
And then came the retreat ...
After three days on the road and hundreds of miles of driving, I headed to West Boylston, Mass., for our Northeast Retreat. And after everything I had heard during my center visits, the timing could not have felt more appropriate. I had just spent three days sitting with leaders who love this work deeply, but who are carrying a lot. I had heard about staffing shortages, leadership transitions, difficult client situations, opposition, big dreams, unanswered questions, and the constant pressure of leading a ministry.
And now we were gathering pregnancy help leaders from across the Northeast for a retreat centered around Rhythms of Rest. Only a few of the leaders I had visited were able to attend the retreat. Some had other commitments, while others simply couldn't step away from the responsibilities waiting for them at their centers or at home. Think about that. Sometimes the very people who could benefit most from a time of rest and encouragement are the ones who have the hardest time making room for it.
I don't think I fully appreciated how much the theme of this retreat was needed until I spent those three days on the road. I went into this trip hoping I could encourage the people I visited. And I hope I did. But they encouraged me, too. They reminded me why I love this work and why relationships within it matter so much. They reminded me that behind every center name, every statistic, every affiliation, every training registration, and every email is a person who has said yes to some incredibly important, and sometimes incredibly difficult, work. I left each center grateful that I had made the effort to stop. And then I walked into the Northeast Retreat carrying all those conversations with me.
In my next article, I'll share more about our Northeast Retreat, the time we spent together, and what it meant to create space for leaders to step away from their daily responsibilities, connect with one another, and be refreshed.
Editor's note: Kathy Jerman is Director of Affiliate Services for Heartbeat International, which manages Pregnancy Help News. Jerman recently visited 10 pregnancy help centers in four Northeast U.S. states over three days and is chronicling her trip.
