Building a miracle for His Caring Place

On a recent Thursday morning, a text message flashed across the cell phone of a His Caring Place staff member.

It read, “He said to get an abortion and stay or get out if I’m having the baby. I don’t even have bus fare, and the fighting is getting worse. I’m so scared.”

The staff member replied, “Let’s make a plan. We can come pick you up.”

The staff member followed up with the young woman by picking her up, taking her to a local church and soon she was sitting in at MomsLife, the weekly outreach Life His Caring Place offers to young pregnant teens and single moms.

After eating her first meal in three days, she smiled and shared that her future seems to have hope again somehow.

Her life took a turn for the better, and her baby got a second chance.

The next day, a pastor called His Caring Place to ask if they could contact a girl in his congregation who was scheduled to have an abortion the next day. They contacted the girl, and she canceled her appointment.

That weekend, a group of brave young moms sat around a table with their babies. They chose life and now call the His Caring Place aftercare house their home. They are learning the lessons of a lifetime, raising their little ones to follow the Father who will never leave them.

This is a typical week at His Caring Place. But the Life has a big problem: There’s no more room.

For the past 25 years, the Life founded by Ray and Anne West has reached out to the community offering hope and a haven to young girls experiencing an unplanned pregnancy.

More than 300 crisis calls are received each year, and His Caring Place’s Director Linda Lukasik will tell you, “Turning girls away is one of the hardest parts of what I do.”

After Hurricane Wilma damaged the original home in Coconut Creek, it was determined that the old structure needed to be demolished and the property cleared for a fresh start. The house was knocked down in April 2008 and the building permits were submitted.

No one knew that this would be the beginning of a long and arduous permit battle. In the interim, the building project was named the Miracle Home Makeover, and the miracles began happening almost at once. The staff decided to view the permit waiting period as a chance to build a “Miracle Team” of corporations, churches and individuals who could work together to rebuild the facility.

Through supporting churches in the community, the News began to spread to local construction companies.

Dave Fee, of Lotspeich Co. of Florida, says his company is involved because, “We believe in the importance of investing our earthly resources into something with eternal value that will impact future generations and better our community for years to come.” 

Lotspeich is donating all of the drywall and finishing work for the facility, which is more than 8,000 square feet.

Louis Proietto, owner of Proietto Paint, also feels strongly about helping His Caring Place reach out to girls and break the cycle. His company is painting the new His Caring Place house.

Proietto shares, “I was raised by a single mom, I married a single mom and I have seen that this Life is really doing what it says it does: Saving lives, two at a time.” 

The miracles kept coming when Andres and Helena Gonzalez, foster parents with 4KIDS of South Florida, donated their home for the temporary use of the Life .

Helena shares, “If the mother of my foster daughter had gotten the love and help she needed in the beginning, the outcome of her children’s lives could have been so different.”

They believe that His Caring Place is helping prevent future foster children from entering the system.

In addition, Home Depot awarded a grant to the project, Allied Demolition demolished the property and cleared the site for free and Hunter Douglas is donating window treatments. To date, more than 50 companies are committed to donating time and materials to help build the new His Caring Place facility.

Through this new facility, His Caring Place will be able to double their residential capacity, host seminars and life skills classes on site, provide a community resource and support center  and reach more girls in need in our community.

Willie Cook, with Bromley Cook Engineering, shares this about his company’s involvement: “We have been blessed to work on this project and can only pray that this house becomes a sanctuary for pregnant girls in need that exceeds all expectations. We look forward to see what God does in the lives of the girls that are touched by His Caring Place in the next 25 years.”

To find out more, you are welcome to attend the Miracle Home Makeover Groundbreaking Ceremony and Chili-Cookoff on Sunday, Sept. 20 at 5 p.m. Join His Caring Place for this fun, family event with great food, friendly competition and a special worship service as they lay the foundation for the next generation to be a part of saving lives, two at a time.

For more information, visit www.HisCaringPlace.org or call 954-905-5135.
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