Texas Knights raise over $88,000 in Two Months to Protect Life

(Austin, TX) – The Knights of Columbus presented an $88,000 check to St. John Paul II Life Center to purchase a Samsung HS-60 sonogram in early November. Upon learning of the Center’s great need, Austin Diocesan Director Kevin Brinkman and Austin Chapter President Kevin Russell rallied councils and assemblies from Waco to San Marcos and Bryan to Taylor.

Brinkman said that Knights from throughout the Diocese of Austin raised over $56,000 within just two months. Supreme donated another $32,000, bringing the total to $88,112.70. “We’d spent over $5,000 in repairs on our previous sonogram and were in great need of a new machine,” said St. JPII Life Center Board President Tim Von Dohlen.

“The Knights responded immediately and very generously to our need.” “The Knights have supported St. John Paul II Life Center since before their doors opened,” said Texas State Deputy Doug Oldmixon. “We believe in their mission and are honored to play a role in saving hundreds of lives from abortion each year.”

The St. John Paul II Life Center opened in October 2010 and operates an OB-GYN practice and crisis pregnancy center. Their OB-GYN practice, The Vitae Clinic, employs two Board Certified OB-GYNs and serves about 1,000 patients each year.

Since the clinic adheres to the Ethical and Religious Directives of the Catholic Church, they do not employ profitable services such as contraception, In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), sterilization and abortion. The clinic accepts all forms of Natural Family Planning (NFP) and utilizes the science of NaProTECHNOLOGY to help women struggling with infertility. NaProTECHNOLOGY is as effective as contraception and significantly more effective and less expensive than IVF in achieving pregnancy.

The Center serves about 350 women facing unexpected pregnancies each year with only three percent choosing abortion. Since opening, nearly 800 lives have been saved from abortion. Another 12 were placed for adoption. “We are grateful to the Knights of Columbus for their continued commitment to our Center,” said St. JPII Life Center Executive Director Kimberly Guidry Speirs.

She added that the Knights have held fundraisers for the Center, helped them move, and much more. The dictionary defines ‘knight’ as a man devoted to the service of women or those most in need, Speirs said. “The Texas Knights fulfill this definition in every possible way and we are so thankful.”