Birthright open house
When: 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 20
Where: Hope Center, 218 Main St., Hutchinson
Admission: There’s no charge to attend, the public is welcome
Call: Carolyn Pohlen at (320) 587-6342

When Birthright of Hutchinson was established in 1981, no one expected that the first call would come from a 16-year-old boy who thought his girlfriend was pregnant.

Help was available for this young man because local citizens — Carolyn Pohlen, Steve and Jean Borstad, Eilene Berwald, Judi Kopeski and Judy Kaiser — had joined together to form a nonprofit agency to help girls and women who had unplanned pregnancies and no place to go for help.

“We had no training when we started,” Pohlen said. “We’re not a religious organization, but I think we all believe in God, so we prayed for help. We each threw $5 in the kitty to get started. We’ve been self-sustaining after that first month.”

Twenty-seven years later, the all-volunteer group has 25 counselors available and offers free pregnancy testing, confidential help, referrals to local agencies and community services, prenatal information, maternity and baby clothes, and adoption information. Managing the office are co-directors Jean Borstad and Cathy Wallin.
Clients come from a 50-mile radius of Hutchinson and range in age from 14 to early 40s. Last year, Birthright served 178 clients.

To read more, see the print edition of the Hutchinson Leader, Tuesday, May 13, 2008.

(Kay Johnson is a staff writer at the Hutchinson Leader. She can be reached at johnson@hutchinsonleader.com).