There is less than a week left to buy tickets for the Cochrane Pregnancy Care Centre’s (CPCC) biggest fundraiser of the year, the annual banquet.
Tickets for the banquet will be sold until Feb. 29 with proceeds to go towards the centre, a non-profit organization that focuses on helping women and men who are seeking help with decisions and needs related to pregnancy and other sexual-related manners.
“We want awareness of what we are doing to grow, so as many people as possible make the best decision for their lives,” explained Laurel Pedersen, CPCC executive director.
Last year’s banquet raised $34,000 for the organization, with a fundraising goal of $40,000 for this year. Currently there are fewer than 100 tickets available for purchase.
The banquet will include dinner followed by a live auction, featuring two-professional live auctioneers selling off 12 exotic desserts, handy men for rent, and Air Canada flights for two with travel to anywhere in Canada or the United States. There will also be a silent auction with a variety of donated items including a canvas from Ink’d Graphics and a watch from Garmin.
Spray Lake Sawmills also donated $2,000 to help with the cost of dinner.
“They have generously supported us for the last four years. They are very reliable and dependable supporters of our banquet,” Pedersen said.
The banquet will end with client stories.
“I just hope that hearts will be touched by the clients’ stories and it will be good for the clients sharing their stories as well. It’s pretty powerful when you are listening to someone’s story and you find out you had a positive impact on a life,” Pedersen said.
“Hopefully some of our donors who come will feel affirmed about their choice to be supporters.”
The CPCC offers a variety of programs and services to women and men in need, including free pregnancy tests, options counselling, and, depending on the choice made, CPCC also offers post-abortion support, adoption support or prenatal and postnatal care and education.
There is even support offered in the cases of negative pregnancy tests giving the women an opportunity to discuss their decision making, staff explained.
Clients are self-referred and able to utilize the organization as long as they are in need. This protocol is made possible by the centre’s donors.
What started in 1993 with women meeting in a coffee shop taking pregnancy tests in the bathroom, the CPCC has since grown to a non-profit organization, with charitable status in 2002 and currently a board of eight members, over 70 volunteers and 172 client visits in 2015.
“The other purpose of the banquet is it is an opportunity for our donors to learn more about what we are doing – it is not only fundraising, it is sharing our work and sharing our clients’ stories,” Pedersen explained.
“When women experience an unplanned pregnancy it can be a moment of crisis and our hope is that we will be a safe place for them – for them to be able to think about their options through long term and make a good decision.”
The CPCC offers free and confidential services; open three days a week with a 24-hour hotline, 403-650-5326.
The CPCC Annual Banquet will be held March 10 at the Cochrane Alliance Church, starting at 6 p.m. Tickets are $40 each, or a table of eight for $275.
For more information or to purchase tickets, contact CPCC staff at 403-932-2900, or by email at [email protected] or online at thecentrebanquet.eventbrite.ca
