On July 15, 2017, around 100 people gathered deep in a park in St. Louis, next to a very exciting wedding reception
and lots of trees. Some of them had ridden over 100 miles that day, some were just sweaty because it was warm outside. The musical duo played popular songs, children laughed and held their balloons, and families greeted each other. The 2017 Biking for Babies Celebration of Life had begun.”
This was our first time being in St. Louis for the Celebration of Life. Previous years, the event had been held in Chicago and Memphis, but we invited our friends and family to the heart of our nation (is that their motto?) to celebrate with us. Our missionaries came from across the United States, literally from 11 different states. Families and friends came from Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, all to welcome our riders from their 600+ mile (each!) journey.
Through heat, rain, headwinds, thunderstorms, traffic, and more, our 22 young missionaries rolled into the park, albeit at two separate times, ready to hop off the saddle and enjoy the celebration. The Archdiocese of St. Louis Office of Laity and Family Life sponsored our event, helping us feed our supporters a great meal and local favorite Ted Drewes Frozen Custard (shout out to possibly my favorite part of the evening). As everyone gathered over meals, the missionaries spoke to each other about their journeys and told friends about how excited they were to be stationary for a while.
I hopped up to the microphone to thank everyone for coming, and introduced our keynote speaker, Mr. Joseph Dalton, executive director of PRC of Rolla and In His Image Ultrasound. Joe shared lots on behalf of his organizations, informing listeners why PRCs are located in particular areas of need, how PRCs operate, what good has come from his center especially, and more.
What stood out to me the most was an analysis Joe and his team have done to determine how many services centers provide when saving lives (among other things). In short, Joe’s team has been able to put a dollar amount to how much it costs to help a woman choose life (not that the life is valued by a dollar amount). This amount is $500. In our nation, right now, the average cost of helping a woman choose life, based on the average amount of free services she receives from life-affirming resource centers such as counseling, ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, parenting classes, infant resources and more, is $500. To rephrase, that means on average, a center will spend $500 worth of services (free or minimal cost to clients) in order to help them choose life for their unborn baby.
This a beautiful thing, and I think it gives people a goal to work towards. For me personally, it stood out because if I can donate $500 of my own money to pregnancy resource centers, I know I’ve helped them to save at least one life. I hope others see this information the same way I do and are challenged by it.
Continuing on with the event, each of the missionaries stood to introduce themselves and share the name of their pregnancy resource centers. Rider leaders were invited to share some highlights of the ride, including warm welcomes from our hosts, challenges incurred along our paths, and unexpected lessons learned along the route.
Jimmy, co-founder of B4B, challenged our audience to actively live out our support of the pro-life movement through how we speak and act with one another. Fr. Patrick ended our evening with a prayer over all who came out, then the missionaries took a group picture while all of our parents took 100 million pictures (approximately).
Another surprise came during the evening when Lauren Ziegler, recently crowned Mrs. USA, came out to support the organization with her two children. Lauren fights to raise awareness of and end child trafficking and abuse, especially in her home state of Florida. She heard about B4B’s mission and saw that she too could Celebrate Life with us in St. Louis. She spoke very highly of the work we are trying to do, to actively respect life and end the Culture of Death. She looks forward to staying connected with our organization.
This was the first time we had celebrated in an outdoor space like Town Grove Park, but it certainly will not be our last. We hope you join us next year!
