Rebuilding With ‘Radical Love’

Jan. 1, 2023

Illinois Knights help a pregnancy resource center recover and grow after it was destroyed by arson

By Elisha Valladares-Cormier

Jan. 1, 2023

Ann Kube, president of the Women’s Care Center in Peoria, cuts the ribbon to officially open the center’s new building Oct. 13, 2022, as Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria assists. — Ann Kube, president of the Women's Care Center in Peoria, cuts the ribbon to officially open the center's new building Oct. 13, 2022, as Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria assists. (Jennifer Willems/The Catholic Post)

In the early morning of May 3, 2021, an arsonist smashed a sledgehammer through a window of the Women’s Care Center in Peoria, Illinois, sprayed an accelerant and ignited a fire. The center’s lobby was incinerated, its baby supplies lost, its ultrasound machine damaged by heat and smoke. Immediate assistance was needed in order for the center to continue serving its clients. St. Clement Council 12407 in Dunlap answered the call.

The council had provided tens of thousands of dollars in donations, as well as regular maintenance help, since the pregnancy resource center was founded in 2013 by Christine Dennis, the wife of a council member. At the center’s lowest moment, the Knights once again stepped up to support its life-giving work.

This past October, less than a year and a half after the attack, the Women’s Care Center dedicated a new, expanded facility in downtown Peoria. The facility now has more than twice as much space for the counseling services, parenting classes, baby supplies and free ultrasounds that it offers to families in need.

“All I can say is we would not be here without the Knights of Columbus,” affirmed Anne Kube, president of the center’s board of directors, speaking shortly before the Oct. 13 dedication ceremony. “They have been our ‘Knights in shining armor.’”

Following the fire, the Women’s Care Center operated first from a mobile unit and then from a small, temporary office space.

“Our reaction was just, ‘What do we do now? Let’s find an alternative location,’” explained Warren Breitbarth, a member of Council 12407 and of the center’s board. “There was no question that we were going to continue [the good work] we’re doing.”

Knights from Council 12407 quickly applied to purchase an ultrasound machine for the center through the Order’s Ultrasound Initiative. The request was expedited, and a new machine — which Kube called “one of the most important pieces of equipment that we have to serve women and their families” — arrived within the center’s first month at the temporary location.

The center operated there for about a year, during which time it served an estimated 20% of pregnant women in Peoria County. Meanwhile, it purchased and began renovating an old bank building about 5 miles away. Given increased demand for services (the number of pregnancy tests and ultrasounds provided by the center rose by 12% and 26%, respectively, in the last year) and the presence of a Planned Parenthood facility just a block away, the center opted to create a second ultrasound room. The Knights again mobilized to obtain an ultrasound machine through the Ultrasound Initiative.

Tom Jenn (right) and fellow members of St. Clement Council 12407 in Dunlap, Ill., carry a load of car seats and other baby equipment to the Women’s Care Center’s supply room in December. (Photo by Jeff Noble)

When the time came to move into the new building, council members transported furniture and equipment from the various storage facilities the center used after the fire.

“It’s like the Knights have adopted the Women’s Care Center; there is such an outpouring of love and prayers,” said Tom Jenn, also a member of Council 12407 who serves on the center’s board. “Not only financial support, but also a lot of physical support, showing up whenever there’s a need.”

Kube marveled at how the support from people like the Knights had turned an act of hatred toward the pregnancy resource center into an even greater good.

“What the arsonist didn’t know, but that we do, is that Women’s Care Center isn’t something you can burn down,” she said. “It is a radical love and a radical welcome. … And we are growing and sharing these resources with more women than ever.”

*****

ELISHA VALLADARES-CORMIER is associate editor of Columbia.

Chana Gaskins and her three children enjoy some time playing outside.

Rebuilding With ‘Radical Love’

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