Annual Dinner Benefitted Lifeline Family Center
FORT MYERS, FLA., March 18, 2019– Even the standing room was gone for the Annual Benefit Dinner for Lifeline Family Center featuring Ruth Graham and Windsor Dienert-Bauder, the daughter and granddaughter of the late evangelist Billy Graham.
As the third child of Billy Graham, Ruth addressed several critical issues of the 21st Century including divorce, her teenage daughter’s pregnancies, another daughter’s struggle with bulimia and her son’s battle with drugs. Windsor detailed her journey through two teenage pregnancies, one ending in adoption, and the other baby remaining with her to be raised to adulthood.
Ruth is the author of many books including the best-selling In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart and the award-winning Step Into the Bible. Ruth is an experienced conference speaker and has appeared on “Good Morning America,” “FOX and Friends” and been interviewed on Moody Radio many times.
Her daughter Windsor spoke openly about her two teenage pregnancies while being related to the most famous Protestant religious leader in the world. She contributed to two books with her mother and Sara Dormon: I’m Pregnant, Now What? and So You Want to Adopt, Now What?
More than 600 people attended the March 14 dinner at McGregor Baptist Church in Fort Myers.
To date the event raised $157,111 for the work of Lifeline Family Center, which helps women in crisis pregnancies become self-supporting.
“We are very pleased that Ruth Graham and her daughter came to Southwest Florida to share their message of embracing life, whatever the circumstances,” said Lifeline Family Center President and Founder Kathy Miller.
Lifeline Family Center graduates also gave their testimony through video segments of how the program changed their lives and those of their children.
Sponsors for the event were Glenn and Ada Ann Healey, Steve and Jan Neff, The Breeze Newspapers, CTN10 Christian Television and Susan Bennett Marketing & Media.
Lifeline Family Center provides a home in Cape Coral for homeless young women in crisis pregnancies to help them become self-supporting through education, job training, parenting classes, professional counseling and spiritual guidance. It is the only residential program in Lee County for homeless young women in crisis pregnancies who are not part of the foster care program.
In the residential program, Lifeline Family Center serves up to 12 young women, ages 16 to 25, and up to 24 babies at a time. In the Outreach Ministry program, more than 6,000 women have received assistance with material needs, adoption counseling and resource referrals.The non-profit also operates a 24/7 Pregnancy Helpline, provides free pregnancy tests, free ultrasounds by appointment, and does outreach to all areas of Lee County, including all college campuses.
Lifeline Family Center receives no government funding and is wholly dependent upon donations from generous individuals, churches and corporations as well as United Way funding. For more information about Lifeline Family Center, visit www.LifelineFamilyCenter.org
30