Care Clinic marks 50th anniversary at fall banquet

The U.P. Catholic

The fundraising banquet marking the 50th anniversary of the Care Clinic’s presence and services in the Upper Peninsula was held on Oct. 12 at Northern Michigan University’s Northern Center. “It is a fantastic night for life, and we are excited for our second 50 years to begin,” said Greg Gostomski, executive director of the Care Clinic.

The Care Clinic offers services such as pregnancy testing, ultrasounds to confirm pregnancy, pregnancy counseling, material assistance, STI/STD testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea, and an Earn While You Learn program, as well as several other services. The Care Clinic is also an abortion pill reversal (APR) provider. In addition to the Marquette location, there are two satellite centers in Sawyer and Ishpeming.

Kit Pillifant, board chair for the Care Clinic, offered a welcome to all the banquet attendees, which was followed by an opening prayer said by Pastor Jeff Woodward from Woodland Church in Marquette.

A meal and social time followed the welcome and opening prayer.
Gostomski noted that in past years the Care Clinic banquets had brought in well-known speakers, but for the banquet celebrating the organization’s 50th anniversary, they chose to instead highlight the services that were offered and celebrate the history of the clinic.

A particular highlight of the evening was a live ultrasound of a 10-week-old baby done at the banquet. Attendees were able to view the unborn baby moving around in the mother’s womb and see the baby’s heartbeat on large display screens, with ultrasound tech Mary Ann Severyn saying as she did the ultrasound, “This little person has a whole future ahead of them that we can’t even imagine.”

After the live ultrasound, a video containing testimonies about the Care Clinic and its services was shown, including a testimony from a client who had recommended the Care Clinic to a friend, as well as a testimony from Len McKeen, who had served as a past board member.

“The Care Clinic provides so many needed services to our community. Many people are not even aware of all that they do. They provide a safe place for people who are experiencing a pregnancy, planned or unplanned, to get accurate information, resources and people to walk with them on their journey,” McKeen said. “People can participate in the Earn While You Learn program. They work with their mentors to earn Baby Bucks that can be redeemed in their resource closets for items they need for their family. The Care Clinic helps them with diapers and wipes. They have men’s classes for dads too. [There are] so many wonderful resources for our community.”

Wendy Pelto, volunteer and client services director for the Care Clinic, highlighted the need for mentors for the clients of the Care Clinic, sharing how she herself became a mentor. “I began mentoring and over the next year there were occasions when I felt the strong presence of the Holy Spirit in the room,” Pelto said. “It was powerful and peaceful.” Pelto continued, saying that there were times that she had prayed with clients and added that “the words that have come out of my mouth were not of me.”

Pelto shared that in her role as a mentor, the Holy Spirit “gives [her] confidence and the words to pray for [her] dear clients,” and said that the Care Clinic helps its volunteers and staff “not only grow as people but grow spiritually as well.”

Following Pelto’s remarks, Janice Chittle, marketing coordinator for the Care Clinic, shared about the effect of fatherlessness in her own life and emphasized the need for male mentors to participate in the men’s mentoring program. She asked the men in the room to consider giving their time to help out at the Care Clinic as male mentors.

A video segment was shown featuring remarks from Tina Mayo, R.N., nurse manager for the Care Clinic, that highlighted the clinic’s abortion pill reversal services. The Care Clinic became an abortion pill reversal provider (APR) in 2023. Mayo informed those in attendance viewing the video that abortion pill reversal is a treatment that is used to reverse the effects of the medication abortion process by using progesterone, a natural hormone.

Mayo shared a story in which a client had called the Care Clinic after she had taken the first of the abortion pills and changed her mind and inquired about abortion pill reversal. Mayo added that the Care Clinic was able to help the client and the reversal was successful. A video interview with the client was featured, during which she was holding the son she had after the successful reversal. Mayo, along with the client, her son Easton and the client’s first Care Clinic mentor, Sarah, stood and received applause from those in attendance after the video of the client sharing her story concluded.

Gostomski challenged banquet attendees to prayerfully consider what they could give to support the Care Clinic and asked for attendees to write down any prayer intentions that they wanted to share and have prayed for by Care Clinic staff every day. At the end of the evening, Fr. Ryan Ford, pastor of St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph parishes in Ishpeming, offered a closing prayer for the Care Clinic and all attendees of the banquet. Fr. Ford added, “The people who work and volunteer at the Care Clinic make concrete our commitment to walk with moms and dads in need. We need to show the world the love of Christ, not just talk about it. They are walking the walk every day.”

Gostomski added, “The banquet was spirit filled and beautiful.”

If you or someone you know is facing an unplanned pregnancy or needs material and emotional support on the journey of parenthood, the Care Clinic offers its services at no charge to clients. Visit www. careclinicmqt.org to learn more about their services and locations in the Western Upper Peninsula. To support the Care Clinic financially, visit www.myegiving.com/app/giving/preg2823334.