Crossroads banquet draws big crowd

MOSES LAKE — An estimated 360 people filled the 4-H building at the Grant County Fairgrounds Saturday night to raise money for the Crossroads Pregnancy Resource Center. The organization’s annual banquet is its biggest fundraiser of the year.

Crossroads provides a range of support services for pregnant women and their families, and for women who might be pregnant, both before and after the baby is born. Its mission, said Christy Youngers of Crossroads, is to provide support for women who need it. “I think that’s huge,” she said.

All services are free.

“We don’t have numbers yet,” Youngers said, but attendance was estimated at about 30 percent higher than 2016, she said. About 20 to 30 youth from local churches volunteered to help serve dinner.

Guest speaker was Ryan Bomberger. Bomberger is the director of the Radiance Foundation and is a broadcast media designer and producer, author and public speaker, from Virginia Beach, Virginia.

But in addition to that, Bomberger’s biological mother was a rape victim. She chose to carry the child to term and place the baby for adoption. That baby was named Ryan Bomberger and grew up in a multiracial home of 13 children, 10 of them adopted, he said.

Crossroads offers pregnancy tests, including ultrasound, parenting classes for moms and dads and a labor and delivery class. There are classes for first-time moms and dads, separate support (and classes) for dads, and support for moms who need the extra help, whether or not it’s the first child.

The center offers services for moms with postpartum depression, and support for women post-abortion.

Crossroads offers infant CPR classes and first aid classes for parents, Youngers said. The organization provides baby clothes and diapers for parents in need. Each fall moms are invited to “Mommy and Baby Day Out,” a picnic for moms and kids, and to a Christmas photo shoot for mothers and children.

Crossroads is a Christian organization, so it offers prayers and spiritual support also, Youngers said.

The banquet is the organization’s biggest fundraiser, but donations are taken year-round. Donations can be mailed to the center at 1555 South Pilgrim Ave., or dropped off at the center at that address. Donations also can be made online at the center’s website at www.pregnancywa.org.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.