Family Resource Center

     Service Coordinator Melanie Wilks from Heart to Heart Family Resource Center in Robertsdale laid out the facts for the December meeting of “Men's 710” at Zion Lutheran Church in beautiful Silverhill. Heart to Heart Family Resource Center is Baldwin County's own “pro-life advocacy group” which has had a presence in Robertsdale since 1990. Beginning with only 93 clients back then, clients now served per year exceed 2000! And would you believe they have been keeping statistics, which are revealing startling “spiritually-related” discoveries? Recent national news items have suggested long-term emotional consequences for women undergoing abortions. But Heart to Heart data suggest that those sequellae often become apparent in women 5 to 10 years after an abortion, when a child would have been actively growing and going to school if brought to full term. And effects are not just in women! Men suffer the consequences of abortion 20 to 25 years after an abortion when an aborted child would have been going to college, when the father would ordinarily be shelling out for college expenses! Miss Melanie noted that “God, of course, is pro-life, and God desires that all would choose life, because children are to be a 'heritage unto the Lord,' as the Bible teaches.”

     Heart to Heart Family Resource Center’s Service Coordinator, Melanie Wilks (head of the table), discussed abortion, counseling issues, and long-term Family Resource Center's planning at Silverhill’s Zion Lutheran Church at “Men's 710.”

     Unfortunately, society has justified abortion. Most Christians remain opposed to the procedure for a variety of reasons. Not only is abortion a terminal operation for a baby, but it has long-term mental and emotional effects on BOTH parents. Thus the ministry of Heart to Heart Family Resource Center! Young women desiring an abortion and being counseled at the Family Resource Center will choose to allow their baby to live about one out of seven times after discussing God's view and concern for life. Six babies will die if counseling fails, in these terms. When ultrasound results are shared in counseling young women choosing abortion, five or six of those seven young women will choose life for their babies BECAUSE they can see the little life within.

     Heart to Heart Family Resource Center has received this statistic with alarm and as challenge. It has chosen to upgrade its facility in Robertsdale and offer ultrasound and related pregnancy testing services to girls coming to its facility. This obviously is not without cost. The Family Resource Center is in the process of buying the building, which has housed its counseling services these past 15 years and will incorporate additional services as funding is accomplished within its long-term plan. It is in the process of raising $270,000 to buy this commercial building located in the heart of Robertsdale. There are 4000 square feet of space, which will be adequate for new programs as they develop.

     Heart to Heart Family Resource Center’s Service Coordinator, Melanie Wilks, left.

     Why more and new programming? Miss Melanie explains it like this, “Girls know where we are. We have been here 15 years. Girls bring girls who are thinking about abortion to us all the time.” Services are not linked just to a building, though. There is an active “abstinence training” program which reaches into the public schools. The program teaches both self-worth and responsibility. Most schools in Baldwin County have been impacted to some degree by this program. Besides its woman-oriented program, Heart to Heart Family Resource Center has developed a man-to-man ministry as well. Right now, there are parenting classes at night with a male focus. “There is a great need for men to tell boys how to become men, how to take responsibility for wives and mothers.”

     Miss Melanie explained that there are alternatives to abortion but education is a key. STD testing and other services at Heart to Heart Family Resource Center will soon provide lots of information, including the results of ultrasound right in Robertsdale in Central Baldwin County. Just as it is first in the Yellow Pages under “Abortion Alternatives,” Heart to Heart Family Resource Center plans to be first in preserving the lives of the unborn through its ministry in Baldwin County.

     Melanie has served as a counselor with Save-a-Life of Baldwin County, for the last ten years. Her counseling skills are not limited to her specialty areas of abstinence, post-abortion, and sexual abuse recovery, because Melanie is also the “You are Unique Coordinator” for the Heart to Heart Family Resource Center, a program that enables teens and young children to understand the importance of good self worth and emotional and physical purity.

     Ms. Wilks can be contacted at heart2heart@gulftel.com or at 947-2111. Family Resource Center’s website is www.heart2heartfrc.org . Heart to Heart Family Resource Center can put donations to work both in its building procurement program and in the services it offers. Donations such as diapers and related baby items are always welcome. Inquiries for specific needs can be directed to Miss Melanie if desired.