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Caring for a pair of lives at the same time

The Brandon Care Pregnancy Center celebrates 18 years of helping young women with pregnancy and sexuality.

By MICHELLE JONES
Published September 23, 2005

BRANDON - Beverly Mullins was 22 years old when she learned she was going to have a child, again.

At first, she thought about ending the pregnancy.

"I already had two children," she said.

Then, an aunt took her to the Brandon Care Pregnancy Center, where she learned about adoption through the center's Journey of Love program.

"I opened my arms to it and even picked out the couple that would adopt my baby," she said.

Next Tuesday, she'll be a featured speaker at the pregnancy center's 18-year anniversary banquet at Bell Shoals Baptist Church.

In its nearly two decades in eastern Hillsborough, the center has taught hundreds of women about the benefits of abstinence until marriage and the risks of being sexually active.

The center also promotes the benefits of healthy relationships. It is a Christian organization that opposes abortion.

"We want to help young women make right decisions to help them realize why they are doing what they are doing," said Cookie Gray, executive director of the center. "We want them to have sexual integrity."

With the bombardment of television, movies and music touting premarital sex and living together before marriage, Gray said her job has become even harder.

The center's program includes the True Love Waits Club at Bloomingdale High School, which has about 100 members.

"This is based on the truth of God's word that sex and having children is inside a married situation," Gray said.

Angie Kagey, the center's coordinator of preventive services, said other programs teach parents how to communicate with their kids about sexuality.

The center wants to go into middle and high schools to spread its message, she said.

"We have found that students want to know the truth," she said. "We want to make it cool to abstain."

Teenagers who sign up to advise other teens have to sign a contract to abstain from drugs, sex and alcohol for a year.

"We want to teach young women to overcome and to build into them a foundation of knowing Christ and to live by his teachings," Gray said.

Many young women are brought up in dysfunctional families and haven't been taught how to form good relationships, she said.

"They are looking for love in all the wrong places," she said.

Mullins, the speaker, said the center "helped me turn my life around."

"Everyone there is like my mom," she said.

Now, she's attending Keiser College in Lakeland. "I believe I am a better mother to my 3- and 4-year-old daughters," she said.

The adoption process was scary at first, but as the months passed, Mullins said she became at peace knowing it was the right thing to do.

At the center, the women earn points for participating in programs. They watch videos and have one-on-one counseling with advocates who stand with them during their pregnancy. The points are turned into Mommy Dollars the women can use to shop at the center's boutique.

Other services include doctor referrals, information on continuing education, support groups and help in finding resources through the community for financial aid and housing.

"We are providing a support system and we need the help of the community," Gray said. "We educate them on their pregnancy, birthing and parenting."

During the past 18 years, the center has had more than 37,000 contacts by clients, she said. Between 80 and 100 women come in for free pregnancy testing each month.

"Some come back more than once," she said.

In June 1987, the center opened under the name of the Brandon Crisis Pregnancy Center. It recently changed its name to the Brandon Care Pregnancy Center.

"Because, it's not just a crisis center," Gray said. "We want women to know that a baby is not a crisis but a wonderful gift from a caring God."

The Brandon Care Pregnancy Center is located at 122 N Moon Ave., Brandon. For more information, call the center at 813 654-0491 or visit its Web site, http://www.brandoncpc.com/

[Last modified September 22, 2005, 10:20:06]