40 Days for Life March 9 - April 17
Please Consider Participating in This Peaceful, Prayerful Effort to End Abortion
by team members of 40 Days for Life Vol. XXIV, No. 4, April 2011
Alexandria, VA
We would like to invite you and all fellow Christians to take part in the 40 Days for Life campaign, from Wednesday, March 9 through Sunday, April 17, 2011, when we will be uniting with other cities around our commonwealth and nationwide for a peaceful, prayerful, simultaneous pro-life outreach. Faithful believers continue to pray that this effort will help to bring about an end to abortion.
40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life campaign that since 2004 has generated measurable lifesaving results. So far, 40 Days for Life campaigns have been conducted in more than 337 cities in six nations. To date, 3,599 children that we know about have been confirmed as saved from abortion, 43 abortion workers have walked away from the industry, and at least nine abortion facilities have shut down following 40 Days for Life campaigns. Some cities have reported as much as a 28% drop in local abortion numbers, and most importantly, numerous post-abortive women (and men) have found healing and forgiveness.
40 Days for Life is an inter-denominational, faith-based effort made up of three key components:
Prayer and Fasting: people of faith throughout our area are invited to support our public witness by fervent prayer, sacrifices, and fasting. Christ told us that some demons can only be driven out by prayer and fasting. (Fasting may consist of skipping meals, certain foods or drinks, television, apathy, or anything that separates you from God.)
Peaceful Vigil: standing for life through a 40-day peaceful, prayerful, public witness outside an abortion facility. All vigil participants are asked to sign a Statement of Peace in order to reinforce the peaceful nature of our campaign. Babies' lives have been saved when their mothers changed their minds about getting an abortion after seeing someone outside the clinic praying and holding a sign such as "Choose life, we can help," or "Pray to end abortion."
Community Outreach: taking a positive, upbeat pro-life message throughout the city by door-to-door distribution of literature and information on the help that is available from local Pregnancy Help Centers.
40 Days for Life has been endorsed by many prominent national leaders and pro-life organizations, including Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, Concerned Women for America, Focus on the Family, Life Chain, Norma McCorvey (the “Roe” of Roe vs. Wade), and Frank Pavone of Priests for Life. The campaign is being conducted in the following Virginia locations this spring: Alexandria, Fairfax, Manassas, Newport News, Richmond, Roanoke, and Virginia Beach.
You are encouraged to prayerfully consider taking part in this vital effort. If you have never participated in a prayer vigil before, it may seem a bit daunting, but as happens with so many people, it turns out to be a blessing and not difficult at all. Once a person has stood vigil, it is often something that they want to do again, and we hope that you will find that to be true for you also.
For more information, you may visit the national website www.40daysforlife.com. For your local website, add a slash (/) followed by the name of your city. You may also contact the coordinators for your local campaign. Specific information for Alexandria's campaign follows:
The vigil will be held at 2839 Duke St. from 7:30 am - 9:30 pm during the 40 days from March 9 - April 17. Community outreach will be held on Saturdays during the campaign. Please contact one of the following people for more information or to sign up as a volunteer:
Jacinta Whittaker, Campaign Coordinator, Jacinta.40days@gmail.com
Mary Ellen McElfresh, Vigil Coordinator, 703-780-2922 or maryellen.40days@verizon.net
Paul Spicer, Outreach Coordinator, pspicer13@yahoo.com
Heide Seward, Assistant Outreach Coordinator, 703-323-0181 or hwseward@verizon.net