It started with a trip to Kettering for prayer. Legion of Mary ladies from Holy Rosary Church in St. Marys, OH, traveled with a group to pray at an abortion clinic in the spring of 2018. Teresa Vint, a Legion member, recalls that fateful April day when the Elizabeth New Life Center members invited the group across the street to see what services the center provides to women in need.

“We were impressed with their efforts to save babies and provide continuing support to new mothers,” said Vint. She and others in the group were especially drawn to the care packages the Center gives each expectant mother who comes in for assistance.

In these small gifts are a number of baby items, such as a blanket, burp cloth, onesie, socks, toy or binkie and a few religious items, like a small Bible and Miraculous Medal. When the Legion members asked how they could help, the center invited them to collect care package items.

“That’s when the idea of the baby basket collection was ‘born,’” said Vint.

The group placed collection baskets in the back of Holy Rosary Church for baby items and began recruiting parishioners to sew burp cloths, blankets and other clothing for newborns. They try to make blankets that match the colors with the onesies and other pieces so the gift has a unified look.

“Since the beginning of the project we … provided over 1,000 onesies and almost as many blankets,” said Connie Miley, another Holy Rosary Church Legion member. Their sewing efforts have been so prolific that, “The Elizabeth New Life Center calls our blanket sewers the ‘Blanket Ladies,’” said Miley. “They are excited when we make a delivery.”

Because the Legion of Mary knows the power of Mary’s intercession, they place the Blessed Mother’s presence in the care packages by pinning a Miraculous Medal on each onesie hoping Mary’s “Yes” might inspire the gift recipients to also be courageous in their time of pregnancy discernment. Knowing not all who receive the care packages are Catholic, Legion members believe Mary is still active in each woman’s discernment process, even if she is working “behind the scenes.”

Founded over a century ago by Frank Duff in Ireland, the Legion of Mary seeks for its members to grow in devotion to our Blessed Mother while bearing Christ to the world through service and evangelization. At Holy Rosary Church, the Legion’s other numerous parish and community service projects include helping with Communion services at local nursing homes, making rosaries for the missions, praying with the homebound and serving at funeral luncheons.

In helping assemble these care packages, the Legion members have also been affected, enabling them to think more deeply about the mothers who are pregnant and feel unprepared to have a child. Vint said, “I have always been pro-life, but I think what changed is my realization that, while prayer is most important, mothers need so much support, both maternally and emotionally, to be courageous enough to keep their babies.”

Being so closely connected to an organization that assists pregnant women contemplating abortion has given volunteers more insight into what it means to be pro-life. It is in the service of these women that we truly promote the life they carry.

Like Elizabeth New Life Center, there are good pro- life organizations in our local communities needing aid. Prayer is the easiest thing we can do, without even leaving the house to assist. Some might be able to support these centers financially. And, like the “Blanket Ladies,” a fulfilling way to help the pro-life movement is to harness our unique gifts, like sewing or volunteering. Get the parish involved, too! There are more people in the community who want to help, and working together is more fun. Much like Mary who bore Christ to the world, by our actions and words we too can be the presence of Christ to those in distress.

This article appeared in the October 2023 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.