Guest Post by Erin Earl, Peoria Notre Dame High School

In January of 2019, I heard about SFLA’s Fellowships and was instantly interested in learning more. I wanted to be a fellow because I am so passionately pro-life and truly admire the work that SFLA does which made me want to be part of that.  

During a Respect Life Week I organized for this fellowship, I witnessed my school stepping up when it came to helping women in need.  

Our group at our school is fairly big and to get the year started we wanted to host a Respect Life Week at our school. This would bring more awareness to the school about the pro-life movement. Throughout the whole week, we had various events that we had that members of the group and the school could participate in.

These events consisted of decorating the school in red, 40 days for Life, Divine Mercy Chaplet during lunch, pro-life chalk outside of the school, attending a Respect Life Dinner in our town, and even a screening of the movie Unplanned the weekend before the kick-off. It was a very full week of many different events that required our board to be very hands-on. 

But when I look back at that week, the most successful part of it all was raising $1,300 for our local pregnancy resource center. 

Since I go to a Catholic high school, we have to wear school uniforms every day. One day during the week we told the school, with permission from the administration, that with a donation of at least a dollar you could get out of school uniform for one day. It was so exciting to see so many people willing to donate money that they knew was going to help women that go to the local pregnancy help center.  

The Thaddeus Stevens Fellowship gave me the opportunity to collaborate with many amazing pro-life leaders. 

This year, more than any other, I felt like I had people to turn to when I needed help. In the Stevens Fellowship, we all became really good friends. When I had a question or a situation came up in our pro-life group, I knew a network of people that I could turn to for advice.  

These fellows have become more than just people I met in June. They have become life-long friends and contacts I can always talk to. This past year I spent in the fellowship has solidified my desire be a pro-life activist for the rest of my life.