by Frank Stancato
Over the years we have all heard the pleas for help, both financial and for more volunteers, from our local Crisis Pregnancy Centers. These centers are run by volunteers who provide help to women and their unborn children in their time of need and are always struggling to financially make it through the year. The constant fundraisers and letters not only emphasize the need, but also remind us of how much time these organizations spend on raising the funds necessary to keep these vital centers open and functioning.
Now there is another way to offer financial help to these centers, one that costs you nothing while allowing the CPC volunteers to spend their time fulfilling their mission.
Life for Children was established to provide financial aid to Crisis Pregnancy Centers. The simple act of performing an Internet search from our website raises cash for the CPCs across America and Canada. As of last month we have been providing financial aid to 12 centers in seven states and a Canadian province.
Developing a website turned into a challenge, especially for someone who knew nothing about programming. Fortunately a friend of mine had started a web design company a few years ago and offered to help. Working with him to design and create the website provided me with insights into the complexities of programming that probably would have stopped me had I tried to do it on my own.
Once the site was up and running, I had to learn how to maintain the day-to-day operations. Since I had no programming skills, my friend walked me through the process for a few weeks before moving on to other projects. His departure forced me to take what I had learned and use it since I could no longer lean on him when faced with a problem.
Fortunately, one of my own web searches (for “website design”) located not only online tutorials, but also a website that offered free downloadable programs. Using this website allowed me to improve my own website and learn some valuable lessons as well.
I soon discovered another website Aid for Teens, which uses a search feature to raise monies for the shelters they support. Now, when our users perform searches from our website, the search engine providers make a donation to Life for Children. This benefits our efforts by obviating the urgency to find sponsors, and also encouraging web surfers to use our excellent search engine.
You perform searches on the Life for Children website as you do any other search engine. The simple act of searching for recipes, researching term papers and planning vacations provides us — and through us our client organizations — with the precious funds needed to help women in crisis pregnancies.
How many times do you search the Internet for gifts, information for work or educational material for your children? Every search you perform from Life for Children raises two cents, which may not sound like a lot, but it does add up. Ninety percent of all monies raised by your searches are designated for the CPCs we support. The remaining ten percent is used to cover the cost of web hosting and site enhancements.
Life for Children is a grassroots organization that relies heavily on word-of-mouth promotion. Thus far, student organizations have been the driving force that has enabled us to expand the number of CPCs we support. (The centers added since we began are located in Lubbock, TX (U. of N. Texas Eagles for Life), Oakland, CA (Berkley Students for Life), and Dayton, OH (U. Dayton Students for Life).
So please use our search engine and help us increase the funds available to assist women and children in their time of need!
