GUEST POST: Students for Life of America (SFLA) has been on a mission through the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities (AFC) to roll out our “Summer of Service.” The Summer of Service is designed to directly serve our neighbors by going door-to-door with a wagon of free parenting support materials, blessing bags for women, and baby items such as diapers, wipes and more. This is all made available to anyone who could use the supplies – right there at that moment!

More than 120 SFLA students participated in our AFC door-to-door outreach in June after the National Leadership Collective training. Students visited neighbors in Kensington, Maryland by towing along wagons filled with these resources and a message of hope for women and families. Through this, 2,879 neighbors were reached and received one of our informational door hangers pointing them to life-affirming resources. We also held nearly 200 conversations and even activated almost 40 neighbors to take action by sharing our message with friends or family.  

Check out how our volunteers felt about the outreach below:   

Natalee Wilson said, “We handed out three blessing bags to different women who were happy to see us serving their community!”  

SFLA Vice President Tina Whittington said, “My team knocked on a door of a family who had received some tragic news they shared with us: they just brought their newborn home with a cancer diagnosis. We were able to give them a blessing bag and encourage them to reach out if they find themselves needing extra help. We are praying for this family and new baby that God will provide His perfect healing and peace.”  

Savannah Deretich reported, “We met a single dad who was very grateful for our work, and two other families that we were able to serve with diapers and wipes.”  

Shaohannah Tavares said, “We gave diapers to a couple that had just moved to the area and were expecting their first baby. They said this was the first diapers they’d been given, and it made the new addition to their family so much more real.”  

These conversations are the heart of our campaign in cities across the country. Connecting with each other at a basic human level not only directly serves families and saves lives, but it re-imagines pro-life advocates for the general public to see who is truly caring for their neighbors in need.   

When Do Human Rights Begin Door to Door Outreach 

In addition to our Summer of Service, a group of select students were chosen to introduce our When Do Human Rights Begin effective education canvassing. Our goal with this conversation is to help our neighbors better understand the humanity of the preborn. We are hoping that just as we change hearts and minds on our college and high school campuses, we can change them at the door, as well.  

Read below from our volunteers on how this activism went:  

John O’Neil said, “We had a 40-minute conversation with a liberal Jewish woman who said abortion should be legal because of her religion. She didn’t want to answer our question about when human rights begin, but she did admit abortion used as birth control is not okay (although she claimed this is rare). 

“She did remark that she was happy to see three polite, compassionate young people on her doorstep, having important conversations. When we explained SFLA’s Standing With You initiative and how other volunteers were handing out free resources, her demeanor changed. She said she was happy to call us “actually pro-life and not just pro-birth.” Even if we didn’t fully change her mind, we showed her that the pro-life movement is not what she expected. Further, we could tell she had several teenage boys inside who might be inspired to look into the movement, too.”  

Jeremiah Wilkerson said, “When I asked one mother when human rights begin, she said she believed that human rights start at birth. Ironically, her young daughter was also at the door, reviewing our human rights development timeline, and she turned to her mother and said, “But Mom, she (a preborn child) had a heartbeat!” The two began a discussion that will hopefully be fruitful.”

Michele Hendrickson reported, “I spoke with a woman who is on the board for a Planned Parenthood. She quickly identified we were on different sides of the abortion issue, but she was excited to learn about SWY and what we are doing to support women. She seemed genuine and spent time talking with us.” 

“One student on our team also had a mind change! The person opened with a general pro-abortion statement, accepting abortion with no limits, but when he looked over the timeline of fetal development, he realized what actually took place at such a young age. He identified most with “ability to feel pain” and said at that point, he didn’t think abortion should be legal.”  

We are so proud of all of our volunteers and look forward to educating and supporting our communities this summer.  

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