Top, Pearson Foundation of Hawaii volunteer Mary Rose Timmons-Colton, left, and president Ruth Prinzivalli at the King Street Center.

Life savers

Hawaii’s Pregnancy Problem Center volunteers rescue unborn lives one compassionate step at a time

By Darlene J.M. Dela Cruz | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Three volunteers from the Pearson Foundation of Hawaii went to Chaminade University of Honolulu on Oct. 3 to share with a group of students their personal stories of trying to prevent abortions. As members of a pro-life counseling organization, they put their beliefs into action on the frontlines of the war against unborn human life in Hawaii.

The number of unborn children killed by abortion is staggering, the volunteers said. The Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research organization on sexual and reproductive health, states that about one in three American women will have an abortion by the time she reaches age 45, up to 5,000 per year in Hawaii alone.

The Pearson Foundation of Hawaii aims to change those statistics, one compassionate step at a time.

For more than four decades, the nonprofit Pearson Foundation and its Pregnancy Problem Centers have been teaching young people about chastity and counseling those with unplanned pregnancies. Its volunteers face great challenges, but the reward of saving a life is beyond any price.

History of the foundation

Robert J. Pearson, a Catholic, began the Pearson Foundation in 1970 in their home on Maui. He and his wife had became aware of an increasing number of unwed pregnant teenagers there, so they opened their doors to them offering shelter, spiritual help and other resources.

Pearson and his wife later moved to Oahu where they opened the first Pregnancy Problem Center. They initially called it “Mother and Unborn Baby Care” based on Pearson’s belief that the women they’d be helping were intent on keeping their unborn children.

However, realizing that most women saw unplanned pregnancy as a dilemma, he changed the name.

“Sadly, so many of them really think pregnancy is a problem,” Pearson said in a magazine interview at the time. “After we changed the name, we went from two (clients) a week to 10 a day.”

Pearson left the Islands in 1980 to expand his pro-life work on the mainland. Today, volunteers run three Pregnancy Problem Centers in Hawaii — in Honolulu, Pearl City and Wailuku, Maui.

About 1,200 clients visited the local centers last year, said Ruth Prinzivalli, president of the Pearson Foundation of Hawaii. The Honolulu center is staffed by seven counselors; six counselors operate the Pearl City center, and three work on Maui.

A safe haven

The Pregnancy Problem Centers offer what counselor Maybelle Helfrich calls a “safe haven” for women and men dealing with the possibility of an unexpected pregnancy.

Helfrich, a volunteer for more than 25 years, approaches these sensitive situations by first offering unconditional love for the clients.

“Our great emphasis now,” Helfrich said, is the great damage inflicted on mothers and fathers by abortion. “We love them both, we love them all -- and that way, you save the baby.”

The counselors ask the women to fill out a questionnaire regarding their present situation. The answers are confidential, the approach nonjudgmental.

Women who are unsure if they are pregnant may provide a urine sample for a free pregnancy test. The centers do not provide any medical services, but volunteers have available contact information for doctors and hospitals as needed.

Whether a pregnancy test comes out positive or negative, the counselors provide guidance on the next steps to take.

“With their permission, we’ll take their phone number, and if it’s alright, we can call them back,” said Prinzivalli, who has been a volunteer for eight years. “Especially if their test is negative, then we also try to talk to them about changing their lifestyle, focus on education or their job, and ask them where they are going.”

“If it is positive, we still ask if we can keep in touch,” Prinzivalli said.

The counselors offer videos and other informational material to help their clients think through their decision. The volunteers — most of whom are Catholic — do not proselytize. Instead, they provide the women with as much information as possible to make a wise, informed choice.

“A girl has said to me, ‘I don’t have a choice — my father will kick me out, my boyfriend’s going to leave me if I don’t get rid of the baby,’” Helfrich said. “She needs to be empowered to know. And when they walk out of here, we never want them to say, ‘I don’t have any choice.’”

Both Prinzivalli and Helfrich have seen the joy of women choose to carry out their pregnancies. But they have also seen other outcomes.

Either way, the counselors never let go of their faith and their commitment to life.

“There have been some very disappointing ones,” said Prinzivalli. In those cases, “you do the best you can, and then you’re basically left to just pray for them. And you just kind of have to let it go.”

Other programs

The Pregnancy Problem Centers also teach their clients about chastity. Mary Rose Timmons-Colton, a new counselor at the Pregnancy Problem Center in Honolulu, has been especially active advocating a message of abstinence to young people.

“I feel that I’ve been able to help many youth and many teens because they share their stories about friends they do know who want to have abortions,” Timmons-Colton said.

“I’m able to evangelize and share about chastity,” she said, urging them “to save themselves for marriage and the beauty of that covenant.”

Maui’s Pregnancy Problem Center extends its outreach with a “boutique” offering slightly used furniture and baby items. Helfrich’s sister, Nevis De Laveaga, was one of the original volunteers to start the Maui center and pioneer its services.

For those who have already experienced the pain of abortion, the Pearson Foundation often connects them with a separate retreat program called Rachel’s Vineyard. At the weekend experience, speakers offer insight on grief and healing and ways to cope with the stress following the termination of a pregnancy.

Always a need

The Pearson Foundation of Hawaii is committed to promoting a culture of life in Hawaii. However, as a nonprofit organization independent of the Catholic Church, finding enough money and staff to do so has proved challenging.

Volunteers are needed at all of the centers, Prinzivalli said. Counselors require 30 hours of training plus mentoring from other volunteers.

Pearl City center volunteer Charlotte Ahlf encouraged Catholics to give their time, talent and treasure to the Pearson Foundation. She said it is a good way for Catholics like herself to put a pro-life belief into action.

“Then you will be saying what you mean, and meaning what you say,” Ahlf said.

“I’ll pray for everyone who feels like us and loves what we do. And then we’ll see how the Holy Spirit works for this mission that we have,” she said.

For more information on the Pearson Foundation and Pregnancy Problem Centers, or to volunteer, visit www.pregnancyproblemcenter.org.