Blessings for the Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center

The Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center (BRPC) received $250,000 in donations at their annual benefit Sept. 14. The benefit featured internationally acclaimed author of “The Prayer of Jabez,” Bruce Wilkinson. Roughly 130 people attended the event, yet the amount the center received was more than four times what has been raised at past benefits.  Previous benefits were by invitation only, but this year’s benefit was the first made open to the public to increase awareness about their ministry.

“We made the event open to the public to allow the Lord to bring the people he wanted to the center,” Director of Development Stephanie McBride said.

The center not only received monetary donations, but also pledges for computer equipment, new doors for their center and design work on their website, according to McBride. The benefit also helped to raise awareness in the Central Virginia area about their work.

“Last year we raised $68,000, so this year was huge, above and beyond what we’ve ever raised,” McBride said. “It’s almost unheard of to have only 130 people at the event and to raise $250,000 from that. We totally give the Lord credit for that, it wasn’t anything we did on our own.”

The BRPC has other fundraisers that run throughout the year, such as the Food Lion Shop and Share program and Giving Circles, where people can host a personalized information session for friends interested in getting involved with the center in the privacy of their own home, featuring a BRPC representative. One of the center’s main fundraisers is the Baby Bottle Boomerang, an ongoing drive where churches and organizations collect loose change in baby bottles provided by the BRPC, according to McBride.

“We just want people to know that we are here, not just for the purpose of volunteering but here for them to serve as godly guidance in a time of crisis,” McBride said.

BRPC will be sponsoring a comedy night featuring comedian Tim Hawkins at Hyland Heights Baptist Church on Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and all proceeds will benefit the BRPC. Tickets can be purchased through itickets.com. For more information about the BRPC, contact Stephanie McBride at (434) 528-9750, or visit the BRPC’s website at blueridgepc.org.

EDWARDS is the feature editor.

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