Pro-Life Advocacy for Women in Need
My Role
As president of Stars for Life, a pro-life student organization, I have been involved in a variety of different outreach programs that seek to inform the community about the evils of abortion and form a culture of life on campus.
Although most of the work I do through Stars for Life is informational outreach on campus, such work is imperative to help build a culture of life. I take the role seriously, as abortion is one of the most evil ways that women are being exploited in this modern era. Abortion tells women that embracing their fertility is something that will keep them from fully living out their life, when in reality, their fertility is one of the most beautiful things about womanhood.
Over the summer of 2019, we threw our first fundraising banquet, "Milites ad Vitam" to raise money for both the Women's Centers of Greater Chicago-land, and the scholarship fund. The night included talks from pro-life legends Mary Kate from Illinois Right to Life and Joe Schiedler from Pro-Life Action League. In one night, we raised over $4,000 and thus were able to donate approximately $2,000 to the Women's Center.
Although we were not as successful fundraising with "Beautiful Body" as we were with "Milites ad Vitam" the event itself was quite successful. Through this event, we were able to reach over a hundred people of varying ages. Additionally, the Archdiocese of Chicago was so impressed with the work we put into running the conference, that they offered to sponsor Stars for Life to host the event again next year.
As part of our initiative to be proactively helping women in need, the executive members of Stars for Life have decided to engage in several different fundraising activities. We have raised money for women's centers in the Chicago-land area such as the Women's Centers of Greater Chicago-land, and the Women's Center of La Grange. Currently we are working towards raising money for a scholarship so a young single mother can obtain her associate's degree at Harper College.
Fundraising
In the fall of 2019, we hosted "Beautiful Body," a conference on the Theology of the Body. There were four different speakers, Fr. Thomas Loya, Sarah Minnich from Students for Life America, Kevin Muico, and keynote Sr. Helena Burns. The topics ranged from modesty in fashion, respect of the body in art, biology, dating, and philosophy. Alongside the speakers we showed modest fashions from my Junior collection, as well as modest fashions by fellow designer Heather Hans.