Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center

2011-12-07T12:07:00.001-08:00

The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
End of the Year Coming Up Really Soon!

Moreand more busy!

Wow!Christmas and the end of the year are coming upon us quickly. I cannot believeit is almost that joyous day again. Don’t you just love this time of the year?It brings with it all the sounds and smells of Christmas that give us thosewarm sweet feelings of love, hope, joy, and peace.

We have so many newthings going on at the refuge now. Besure to look for us on Facebook where we now have our own page. We also havesome new web sites that I will explain below.
We are still growing! We now have 200 clients, not including any of theclasses. We have had at least 2 or 3 new babies born each month.

We have some excitingthings going on in the near future.

We are still gathering walkers and teamleaders for our “2^NDANNUAL WALK FOR LIFE” on January 21, 2012. It is getting very close; soplease contact us soon!

Check out our “Walkfor Life” web site! Go to this link www.ministrysync.com/event/home.php?e=3950 to register or call the office at830-569-0030. We are very excited and we hope to have twice as many walkers aswe had last year. Every walker will be given a T-shirt to wear in the walk.This will help make a visual statement to the public.

If you have adonation that you need to be credited for the year 2011, it must be post markedby December 31, 2011.

We have a new website (in progress) www.AtascosaPregnancy.org for our clients! It is up and running, but we willbe tweaking it a bit. Make sure to share it with your friends.

There is also a button on www.AtascosaPregnancy.org for donations. Hopefully within the next weekit will be functional, and will be another way for you to donate. This would bea great way for you to make your last minute ‘end of year’ donations.

We continue to need volunteers! The increased numberof clients utilizing our services requires more help. What a wonderful situation! More help wouldallow us to increase our hours of operation as well. If you are interested,please contact me, Collene Myers at:
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center,
Po Box 509,
Pleasanton, TX, 78064
Or call 830-569-0030 for more information.

We are planninganother Volunteer training in early 2012! If you are interested in volunteeringplease contact me for an application.

Growing, growing, andgrowing!

There are alwaysopportunities to get involved! We stillhave a few more construction projects we need help with. Please contact us ifyou are interested in helping.

Some of the men fromCowboy Fellowship recently built an awning to protect the front door and deckfrom the sun and rain. We are very appreciative for this labor of love.

Our 2012, “5thAnnual Love for Life Banquet” will be in April again.

As a reminder, Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center offers pregnancy testing andpractical assistance through our free programs listed below:

Free Programs

Confidentialpregnancy testing and proof of pregnancy documents
Lay and spiritual counseling
Teaching on healthy relationships, sexuality/abstinence, and STDs
Prenatal, Parenting, Anger Management, and Abuse Recovery (“Shadows toSunshine”) classes, plus PACE for those who have already experienced abortion,and Connect Monday
“Hope Program” – Earn as You Learn Program
Baby clothes, diapers, toys, furniture and many other items, as well asMaternity clothes.

Current class timesare:
Connect Monday- Monday 1:00 P. M.
Anger Management- Tuesday 6:00 P M
Parenting - Thursday 5:00 P. M.
Parenting Boys - Thursday 6:30 P M

The Refuge serves anywoman who has a child less than 3 years of age through the “Hope Program”. The“Hope Program” is an earn as you learn program in which the clients arerewarded with diapers, baby food, clothing, toys and baby furniture in exchangefor the time they spend in classes, attending church, reading books, andwatching videos and DVDs.
So remember our location, 506 West Adams St., in Pleasanton, TX.

If you can’tvolunteer at the center, but you still want to help in some way, you might hosta baby shower or a diaper drive in honor of The Refuge through your church orcivic organization. This is another great opportunity for you to be a part ofthis great community service to our future babies.

Director, Collene Myers would love to speak to your church, organization, orgroup. Please contact the office at 830-569-0030 for more information.

New hours ofoperation (excluding classes) are:

Monday& Wednesday- 11 A.M. - 3 PM and

Tuesday& Thursday 2 P.M. - 6 P.M.

Hours of operation will be expanding once we have morevolunteers. Pray about whether that would include you and let us know!!!

2011-09-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
2nd Annual Walk for Life Coming Up!

More and more busy!

We have been trying some new things, so I haven’t been doing a lot of the traditional newsletters! Look for us on Facebook where we have our own page now.
We are still growing! We have 170 clients now, not counting any of the classes. We have had at least 2 or 3 new babies born each month.
We present the gospel to each client that enters The Refuge. Some
accept the Lord as their savior and others leave interested in the gospel.

It is hard to know how many babies we may have saved, but I don’t have personal knowledge of any abortions that have occurred among the women who have visited us. We need your constant prayers as do the women who are our clients.

We have some exciting things going on in the near future.

• We are gathering walkers right now for our “2nd Annual WALK FOR LIFE” on January 21, 2012. We need team leaders as well as walkers. Please call me if you are interested. I hope to have at least as many walkers as we had last year. Every walker will be given a T-shirt to wear in the walk. This will help make a visual statement to the public.

• We continue to need volunteers! We barely have enough volunteers to get by with the increased amount of clients utilizing our services. If you are interested, please contact me, Collene Myers at:
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center,
Po Box 509,
Pleasanton, TX, 78064
Or call 830-569-0030 for more information. We are also planning another Volunteer training in early 2012! If you are interested in volunteering please contact me for an application.

• We still have just a few more construction projects we need help with. Please contact me if you are interested in helping.

• Our 2012, 5th Annual Love for Life Banquet will be in April again.

As a reminder, Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center offers pregnancy testing and practical assistance through our free programs listed below:

Free Programs

Confidential pregnancy testing and proof of pregnancy documents
Lay and spiritual counseling
Teaching on healthy relationships, sexuality/abstinence, and STDs
Prenatal, Parenting, Anger Management, and Abuse Recovery (“Shadows to Sunshine”) classes, plus PACE for those who have already experienced abortion, and Connect Monday
“Hope Closet” – Earn as You Learn Program
Baby clothes, diapers, toys, furniture and many other items, as well as Maternity clothes.

Current class times are:
Connect Monday- Monday 1:00 P. M.
Anger Management- Tuesday 5:30 P M
Parenting - Thursday 5:00 P. M.
Parenting Boys - Thursday 6:30 P M

The Refuge serves any woman who has a child less than 3 years of age through their “Hope Program”. The “Hope Program” is an earn as you learn program in which the clients are rewarded with diapers, baby food, clothing, toys and baby furniture in exchange for the time they spend in classes, attending church, reading books, and watching videos and DVDs.
So remember our location, 506 West Adams St., in Pleasanton, TX.

If you don’t want to volunteer at the center you might host a baby shower in honor of The Refuge through your church or civic organization. This is another great opportunity for you to be a part of this great community service to our future babies.

Director, Collene Myers would love to speak to your church, organization, or group. Please contact the office at 830-569-0030 for more information. Current hours of operation are:

Mon & Wed 10 A.M. -2 PM and

Tue & Thur. 2P M- 6 PM.

2011-05-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
To Host
OPEN HOUSE!!
The Refuge will be hosting an “Open House” on Sunday May 22, 2011. They would like to invite everyone to tour their new facility and share some light refreshments in their new home at 506 W. Adams Street. The Open House will be held from 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. on Sunday afternoon. Come and go as you please.
The Refuge would also like to apologize for having to postpone their appreciation social. A new date has been set. The Refuge will be hosting an appreciation social Friday night May 20, 2011 at 7:00 P.M. This is for all the volunteers that have helped The Refuge which includes construction volunteers and movers, office volunteers, and banquet/silent auction volunteers. If your subgroup is not mentioned, please know that this invitation does include you too.
Remember The Refuge serves any woman who has a child less than 3 years of age through their “Hope Program”. They also provide free pregnancy testing and proof of pregnancy. If you are already pregnant The Refuge may be able to help you with maternity clothes, prenatal education, and child birth classes.
The “Hope Program” is an earn as you learn program in which the clients are rewarded with diapers, baby food, clothing, toys and baby furniture in exchange for the time they spend in classes, attending church, reading books, and watching videos and DVDs. This program is available to parents with children under 3 years of age.
Current classes offered are Anger Management every Tuesday at 5:00 P. M., “Connect Wednesday” at 10:00 A. M., and beginning Monday, June 13th there will also be an evening “Connect” class. Parenting classes are on Thursday at 5:00 P. M. and we will soon be starting a new “Parenting boys” class on Thursday night at 6P. M.
Director, Collene Myers would love to speak to your church, organization, or group. Hosting a baby shower in honor of The Refuge is also an opportunity for you to be a part of this great community service to our future babies. Please contact the office at 830-569-0030 for more information. Current hours of operation are: Mon & Wed 10 A.M. -2 P.M. and Tue & Thur. 2P.M.-6 P.M.
We are looking forward to seeing you at the appreciation social; so please call if you need more information.

2011-04-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

PS: On a personal note, I am in desperate need of a few good men to build a fence on my property. I can furnish all the supplies. I just need help and perhaps someone with a tractor and a post hole digger.

2011-04-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Wow! We are still busy! We have moved into the new building! We are still trying to get organized and have one or two remodeling jobs left, but we were open as of March 14th. The Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce held a Ribbon Cutting on Thursday March 17 at 11 AM.

Our 4th annual “Love for Life” Banquet is April 29, 2011 at 7 PM preceded by a Silent Auction at 6:00 PM (We have lots of great gifts to bid on!)

New Volunteer Training will be on Saturday 4-30-11 thru Monday 5-2-11

The Refuge will host an Open House on Sunday afternoon from 2:00 to 4:00 PM on May 22, 2011.

PLEASE READ THE INVITATION BELOW! WE WOULD LIKE A LARGE CROWD FOR THIS YEARS LOVE FOR LIFE BANQUET!

We continue to grow. We now have 134 clients, not counting the parenting or anger management classes. We need your constant prayers as do the women who are our clients. Please pray for me and all the other volunteers, staff, and board that the Holy Spirit will be in control every moment we are representing The Refuge.

Immediate needs are:

• Volunteers

• Helpers to help clean and organize,

• Still need some minor remodeling inside,

• Groups to adopt a room to decorate

• Landscaping

Here is a picture of our new building!

At 2432 sq. feet with 9 rooms it has more than twice the space we had before. Once again our new address is 506 West Adams Street, Pleasanton, Texas, one block from Pleasanton High school. We are so excited! As you might imagine, though, if we needed volunteers before, we really need them now! We hope to expand our hours when we have more volunteers to man The Refuge. If you are interested, please contact me, Collene Myers at:

The Refuge Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center,

Po Box 509,

Pleasanton, TX, 78064

Or call 830-569-0030 for more information.

As a reminder, Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center offers pregnancy testing and practical assistance through our free programs listed below:

Confidential pregnancy testing and proof of pregnancy documents

Lay counseling, and spiritual counseling

Teaching on healthy relationships, sexuality/abstinence, and STDs

Prenatal, Parenting, and Anger Management Classes, Connect Wednesday Bible Study,

Abortion recovery classes for those who have already experienced it,

Maternity clothes Baby clothes, diapers, furniture and many other items.

If you would like to help The Refuge in some way other than counseling or volunteering at the center, you might want to organize a baby shower through your civic group or Sunday school class or ask your organization to have us come to speak about The Refuge. For more information contact Collene Myers at 830-569-0030.

In Him,

Collene Myers

The Refuge Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center

830-569-0030

TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

2011-03-01T15:51:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Boy have we been busy! The new building is coming along nicely. We are still trying to get small jobs completed and some painting finished, but it is our plan to start moving in on Thursday 3-3-11. We have to move everything from the old address and some furniture from storage and then start decorating and putting things together. We must then be re-opened at our new address on Monday March 14th.
Thursday March 10- Volunteer planning meeting for those interested in helping with the "Love For Life Banquet."
Chamber of Commerce will hold a Ribbon Cutting on Thursday March 17 at 11 AM.
Our 4th annual “Love for Life” Banquet is April 29, 2011 at 7 PM preceded by a Silent Auction at 6:00 PM
New Volunteer Training will be on Saturday 4-30-11 and Sunday 5-1-11
The Refuge will host an Open House on Sunday afternoon from 2:00 to 4:00 PM on May 22, 2011.

We continue to grow. We now have 128 clients, not counting the parenting or anger management classes.
Each client that enters The Refuge is presented the gospel. We have had some accept the Lord as their savior and others that have left interested in the gospel of Jesus.
We may never know how many babies have been saved, but I don’t have personal knowledge of any abortions that have occurred among the girls who have visited The Refuge. We need your constant prayers as do the women who are our clients.

Immediate needs are:
• Helpers to help clean and move,
• Still need some minor remodeling inside,
• Groups to adopt a room to decorate.

Here is a picture of our new building!

At 2432 sq. feet with 9 rooms it has more than twice the space we have now.

And here are some of the volunteers as they were working.

Once again our new address is 506 West Adams Street, Pleasanton, Texas, one block from Pleasanton High school. We are so excited! As you might imagine, though, if we needed volunteers before, we really need them now! We barely have enough volunteers to get by at present; so we will definitely need more before we can open a new center. If you are interested, please contact me, Collene Myers at:

The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center,
Po Box 509,
Pleasanton, TX, 78064
Or call 830-569-0030 for more information.

As a reminder, Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center offers pregnancy testing and practical assistance through our free programs listed below:

Free Programs are:
Confidential pregnancy testing and proof of pregnancy documents
Lay counseling, and spiritual counseling
Teaching on healthy relationships, sexuality/abstinence, and STDs
Prenatal, Parenting, and Anger Management Classes
Abortion recovery classes for those who have already experienced it,
Connect Wednesday (Bible Study)
Maternity clothes
Baby clothes, diapers, furniture and many other items

If you would like to help The Refuge in some way other than counseling or volunteering at the center, you might want to organize a baby shower through your civic group or Sunday school class or ask your organization to have us come to speak about The Refuge.
For more information contact Collene Myers at 830-569-0030.

In Him
Collene Myers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-0030
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

Just a short update

2010-11-30T13:45:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

This is going to be very short, but I want everyone to be up on what is happening. The building has been purchased debt free!! That does leave us a little close on our bank account, but Praise The Lord, we don't owe any one except a debt of love. The building is awaiting delivery until the lot is completely prepared. John Brymer has been working hard to accomplish this, but could really use some help. If you would like to help, please call me and I will get you in touch with him.

Immediate needs are:

Certified Plumber,
Helpers to help with building pad and parking area,
Carpenters for deck and some minor remodeling inside,
Groups to adopt a room to decorate.
Still need Walkers and Team Captains for the "Walk For Life"

Here is a picture of our new building!

At 2432 sq. feet with 9 rooms it has more than twice the space we have now.

Thanks to all for your prayers!!!

In Him
Collene Myers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-742-3447

TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

2010-11-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

Long Overdue

Busy is still not a good enough excuse!

I have still been busy, and I’m late again on our newsletter!

Well I said we were starting to grow pretty fast in the last letter. We had 41 clients at that time. Now we have 113, not counting the parenting or anger management classes.
Each client that enters The Refuge is presented the gospel. We have had some accept the Lord as their savior and others that have left interested in the gospel of Jesus.

It is hard to know how many babies we may have saved, but I don’t have personal knowledge of any abortions that have occurred among the girls who have visited us. At the time of the last newsletter, there was one that was of concern. I am excited to tell you that she decided to keep her baby and has now delivered. We need your constant prayers as do the women who are our clients.

We have some exciting things going on this month and in the near future.

WALK FOR LIFE

We are gathering walkers right now for a WALK FOR LIFE on January 22, 2011. We need team leaders as well as walkers. Please call me if you are interested. I hope to have a large crowd of walkers. Every walker will be given a free T-shirt to wear in the walk. This will help make a visual statement to the public.

Exciting News

As you all know we purchased a lot in Pleasanton, Texas on Adams Street last year. It is an excellent location, less than a block from Pleasanton High school. Now we have signed a contract on a building to be placed on it. We are hoping to have it ready to use by the end of January 2011. We are so excited! As you might imagine, though, if we needed volunteers before, we really need them now! We barely have enough volunteers to get by at present; so we will definitely need more before we can open a new center. If you are interested, please contact me, Collene Myers at:

The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center,
Po Box 509,
Pleasanton, TX, 78064
Or call 830-742-3447 for more information.

Big Need

We especially need volunteer carpenters, electricians, plumbers, all sorts of construction help immediately to help with the new building. Please contact me if you are interested in helping.

Volunteer Planning

We are also Planning Volunteer training in February 2011! If you are interested in volunteering contact me for an application.

As a reminder, Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center offers pregnancy testing and practical assistance through our free programs listed below:

Free Programs are:
Confidential pregnancy testing and proof of pregnancy documents
Lay counseling, and spiritual counseling
Teaching on healthy relationships, sexuality/abstinence, and STDs
Prenatal, Parenting, and Anger Management Classes
Abortion recovery classes for those who have already experienced it,
Connect Tuesday (Bible Study)
Maternity clothes
Baby clothes, diapers, furniture and many other items

So remember our present location is in Poteet just a couple of blocks from the school at 815 School Drive.
If you would like to help The Refuge in some way other than counseling or volunteering at the center, you might want to organize a baby shower through your civic group or Sunday school class or ask your organization to have us come to speak about The Refuge.
For more information contact Collene Myers at 830-742-3447.

In Him
Collene Myers

The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-742-3447/ 569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

2010-04-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

Love For Life Banquet!!!
And

Silent Auction

Held by

The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center

The banquet will begin at 7 PM on Thursday May 6th at the VFW Hall on S H 16 at FM 476 in Poteet, Texas. There is no charge for the meal. Just call, show up and enjoy a meal and some great entertainment and speakers!
If you are interested in the Silent Auction, you may want to show up a little early to browse and place your bids.

Our Speakers for the night are Ann Geroy of Mount Horeb House Ministries in Kerrville, Texas

Renae Riley of Grapevine Texas (no picture).

Singers are Billy Myers of Arlington, Texas

Danny Myers of Nasau Bay,near Houston,Texas

The Strings of Grace Band. The Strings of
Grace are a Southern Gospel, Country, Blue Grass quartet made up of two couples Mike and Linda Bender and Charles and Becky Lum.
Please RSVP as soon as possible at PO Box 509, Pleasanton Texas or call 830-742-3447 or 830-569-5883.

We are also Planning Volunteer training in June! If you are interested in volunteering contact me, Collene Myers at 630-742-3447.

As a reminder, Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center offers pregnancy testing and practical assistance through our free programs listed below:

Free Programs are
Confidential pregnancy testing
Lay counseling, and spiritual counseling
Teaching on healthy relationships, sexuality/abstinence, and STDs
Prenatal and Parenting classes
Abortion recovery classes for those who have already experienced it,
Maternity clothes
Baby clothes, diapers and many other items

So remember our location is in Poteet just a couple of blocks from the school at 815 School Drive.
If you would like to help The Refuge in some way other than counseling or volunteering at the center, you might want to organize a baby shower through your civic group or Sunday school class or ask your organization to have us come to speak about The Refuge.
For more information contact Collene Myers at 830-742-3447 or 830-569-5883.

2009-10-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

Special points of interest:
(See below for articles on past events)

The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
At Cowboy Homecoming!!!

August Rummage Sale

Love For Life Banquet

Long overdue. Busy is not a good enough excuse!

Please forgive me! I have been exceptionally busy, but that is not a good enough excuse for being so overdue on our news letter!

Growing Fast Now

We have settled into our new place. Ladies from FBC Pleasanton and Poteet came to decorate the counseling rooms, and the client bathroom. We have received many great donations and have had baby showers and a stuff the truck sponsored by various churches, such as Summerset Baptist, New Life Outreach, and Cowboy Fellowship.

We are starting to grow pretty fast now. We have 41 clients, not counting the parenting classes. We are on our 3rd parenting course now with an attendance rate of between 6 and 12.
Each client that enters The Refuge is presented the gospel. We have had 3
young ladies accept the Lord as their savior and others that have left interested in the gospel of Jesus. There have been some who said “ I never heard that before.” when I presented the gospel. That is really hard to believe in a Christian nation.

It is hard to know how many babies we may have saved, but I don’t have personal knowledge of any abortions that have occurred among the girls who have visited us; although there is one that is of concern. We need your constant prayers as do the women who are our clients.

Location
For those of you who don’t already know, we are located in Poteet at 815 School Drive.

Other News

We purchased a lot on Adams Street in Pleasanton, Texas a few months ago. It is an excellent location, less than a block from Pleasanton High school. We hope to
build within the next year.
We barely have enough volunteers to get by at present; so we will definitely need more before we can open a new center. If you are interested, please contact me, Collene Myers at:

The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center,
Po Box 509,
Pleasanton, TX, 78064

Or call 830-742-3447 or 830-569-5883 for more information.

Praise the Lord! What an amazing God we have! He has provided in ways I never expected!
Thank you Lord for the great opportunities you are providing us each day!

Prayer Points

Praise the Lord for all the wonderful provisions, and for the ways that he is working in our lives and the lives of our clients.
Praise God for providing me with a 2002 Ford Explorer with working air-conditioning!
Pray for wisdom for myself and the other volunteers as we speak to the women and sometimes young men that we encounter.
Volunteers!!! Thank you Lord for our wonderful volunteers, but please give us more. We still need more!

Old News!

Cowboy Homecoming!!!

The Refuge had bunches of volunteers helping at their booth at the 44th annual Cowboy Homecoming. Among them were Peggy Maxfeldt, Catherine and Abby Favor, Robin Porter, Mary Roberts, Joyce Walding, Kerry Baxley, Collene Myers, Paul and Suzy Hull and their granddaughter. Mary Ann Boyd was very helpful in organizing volunteers.
This is the second year for The Refuge to have a booth at the event. The Refuge offers much needed practical assistance through their free programs.

Volunteers manning the booth in this picture are, left to right, Mary,
Collene, Catherine, Peggy, and Kerry in the back.

Rummage Sale

We actually made a profit!
The Refuge held a Rummage sale Saturday August 29 from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM. at The Fellowship Hall of First Baptist Church Pleasanton, TX. Many donations were brought and sold. We actually made
a profit! We also received lots of good public awareness.

Love For Life Banquet

The Love for Life Banquet was a great success. We had a wonderful speaker Becky Hyde, and some very talented singers, Billy and Danny Myers, and a great true life story from Martha Ojeda. The food was wonderful as well. With donations at the banquet and pledges received afterwards, we are well on our way to having our new building. We will be having another banquet again in the spring;
so if you missed this fantastic event, plan ahead for our next banquet in April.

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

2009-04-22T23:01:00.000-07:00

It is our pleasure to invite you to the second annual Love for Life Fund Raising Banquet for The Refuge Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center on April 30th! We hope you will come and find out what we are all about. There is no charge to attend and the dinner is complimentary. We would just like to get to know you and would like you to know more about us. We also want to give you the opportunity to partner with us if you would like. So come join us! Our speaker is Becky Hyde, from Arlington Texas. Billy and Danny Myers will also be thrilling us with some great songs. Prior to dinner we will be entertained by the Cowboy Jamboree band.

The Refuge has had some very exciting things going on the last couple of months! We opened at 815 School Drive in Poteet Texas! And now we are the proud new owners of a piece of property on Adams Street just a block east of the Pleasanton High School. We will begin to build once we have raised adequate funds. Our target date to open the new facility is January 2010.

Come join us at the VFW Hall in Poteet Texas. For more information see our invitation included with this letter or call us at 830-742-3447.

Please pray for:

The Love for Life Banquet to go well
My car to be repaired quickly and inexpensively
All the women who will be coming into the center

In Him,

Collene Myers

The Refuge

Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center

PO Box 509

Pleasanton, Texas
830-742-3447/ 830-569-5883

Hope You All Had A Happy New Year!

2009-02-06T23:23:00.000-08:00

I have been exceptionally busy!
I just sent out contribution reports to all of you wonderful supporters. Thanks also to all of you who have prayed for us and given to The Refuge in so many other ways.

Needed ASAP
We are working on getting settled into our new place. We still need a couple of ladies or other groups to decorate the counseling rooms. They are stark at present. I will include a picture for you to see what I mean. This is crucial and needs to be done ASAP, because we will be opening in 4 weeks. Thanks to all the great donations we received from the doctor in Granbury, we have all the furniture we need to furnish the rooms. They just need dressing up a bit (drapes, wall hangings, end or corner tables, and etc). Of course if you have other furniture you would
like to decorate with, we will be excited to discuss it with you.

Ooops! We also need at least two TV/DVDs for the counseling rooms and some people willing to purchase bundles of DVDs (cost of 5 approximately $100.00)
We are located in Poteet just a block from the school at 815 School Drive. It is an excellent location and has parking between our office and the dental office, which makes it difficult for anyone to know if a client’s car is there for us or the dentist. (See pictures below.)

PS The Parking lot also needs work.

Exciting News
We signed a contract on a lot in Pleasanton to build on. It is an excellent location as well, less than a block from Pleasanton High school. We have enough money to purchase the lot, but we will need more money to build. We have two donors, standing by waiting to contribute
a total of $50,000 in matching funds toward the building of a home for The Refuge Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center. If you contribute toward this project, your money will go twice as far since we will have matching contributions for every dollar you donate. Perhaps the company where you work would be interested in contributing matching funds.

Send all contributions to:
The Refuge Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center,
Po Box 509,
Pleasanton, TX, 78064
Or call 830-742-3447 or 830-569-5883 for more information.

Praise the Lord! What an amazing God we have! He has provided in ways I never expected!
Thank you Lord for the new center location, for the furniture and office equipment, for money to have my car worked on, and for the great piece of property we are purchasing!

Prayer Points

Volunteers!!! That we will have lots of volunteers for the training.

That we will recieve donationns that are needed before the openig.

That we will be able to get everything organized quickly for opening.

My 1994 Jeep Cherokee is having a few problems. Please pray for it’s healing as it is in the shop. God continues to provide. I was given money for it’s repair!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2008-12-12T17:13:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It is my greatest desire that all of you wonderful supporters who have prayed for us and given to The Refuge in so many ways have a wonderful and blessed Christmas!

We have wonderful news! Although we are still looking at properties to buy, we have found a great place to rent until we are able to purchase and either build or remodel a building! And our new landlord is giving us a fantastic deal, because she supports what we are doing. It is in Poteet and located just a block from the school at 815 School Drive. It is in an excellent location and has great parking between our office and a dental office. This will make it impossible for anyone to know if a client’s car is there for us or the dentist, or the real estate office that is housed in the same building with us. And if a girl doesn't have a car, it is within walking distance of the high school or most other locations in town. (See pictures below.)

We are looking at a lot in Pleasanton that we could purchase to build on. It is an excellent location as well, less than a block from the Pleasanton High school. We have enough money to purchase the lot, but we will need more money in order to build.
We have two donors that are standing by waiting to contribute a total of $50,000 in matching funds toward the purchase of or the building of a home for The Refuge Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center. As it is so close to the end of the year, it is our hope that some of you will consider end of the year contributions toward this project. Your money will go twice as far since we will have the matching contributions for every dollar you donate. Remember, in order to receive credit for this year’s contributions, your envelope must be post marked by December 31st.

Send all contributions to:

The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center,
Po Box 509,
Pleasanton, TX, 78064

Praise the Lord! We have more good news. Within 3 days of the board’s making the decision to rent the office space, I received an email from my son that a pastor sent him an email telling him of a doctor who contacted him asking if he knew of a mission that needed some equipment. He is donating exam tables and rolling stools, office chairs, waiting room furniture, cabinets, desks and chairs and some other things. What an amazing God we have!

Again, have a very Merry Christmas and a joy filled and blessed New Year!

Special points of interest:

Our "Love For Life Banquet will be held February 26, 2009.
We will be having training for our volunteers February 27 & 28, 2009.
Open House will be early in early March.

Prayer Points

Volunteers!!! That we will have lots of volunteers for the training.
That we will be able to get everything organized quickly for opening.
That we will receive other donations that are needed before opening.
That planning for the “Love for Life“ Banquet will go smoothly and we will have a good crowd.
Praise and thanks to the Lord for a running vehicle! And thanks to Pastor Kerry who brought me a 1994 Jeep Cherokee to replace my van that stopped running again. God continues to provide as we have need.

2008-10-22T17:14:00.000-07:00

Update On The Refuge

We have new and exciting things happening concerning The Refuge. We are looking at some properties as possible sites for the opening of The Refuge. What is more exciting is that we have two contributors (wishing to remain anonymous) who have committed a total of $50,000.00 toward the purchase of a property. They are asking us to raise matching funds from others in the community. Their goal is to help us open The Refuge doors debt free, which is a goal of mine as well. Please help us raise the money we need to purchase one of these properties. We need to be open now! I have already received phone calls from prospective clients and mothers of prospective clients in desperate need of help.

More Great News is that the Cowboy Jamboree is hosting a benefit for The Refuge on October 28th. The admission is only $4.00 and we are asking that you bring a baby gift as well. It can be something as simple as a baby rattle or a receiving blanket. Two of our biggest needs are diapers (all sizes, 1-5) and wipes. Please come to the Jamboree and show your support for The Refuge and have a great time in the process. There will be lots of great gospel music and refreshments as well; so come on out to the VFW Hall at 7:00 PM on October 28.

We still need more volunteers soon for our training. We need volunteers to counsel as well as to help with reception, bookkeeping, and to organize the office and donations that will be coming in. We need someone to help us set up our blessing room.
For information on being a volunteer or making a contribution please call Collene Myers at 830-569-5883.

We had a great time at the Atascosa County Fair selling lemonade and nuts on October 4th and 5th.

Remember, please come and join us for the All Gospel Cowboy Jamboree to benefit The Refuge on October 28th!
Admission is only $4.00 + one baby item (This can be anything from diapers to wipes to baby clothes to a baby toy. There is no minimum or maximum cost for these items. Bring what you can afford, and if you can’t bring an item we won’t turn you away.)

Pray about These Needs of The Refuge

· The right property for The Refuge
· More volunteers to turn in their applications
· Male volunteers or strong women to help pick up donations and take to the storage unit
· Shelves for storage and display
· Educational supplies- TV/DVD Player, DVDs, Books, Pamphlets, Bible studies, and etc.
(One can contribute toward a bundle of these items).
· That we will have good attendance at the benefit.

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

What's New This Month!

2008-09-30T14:25:00.001-07:00

What’s New With The Refuge?

We have new churches and individuals coming along side to support the refuge. Thanks so much to all you volunteers and those who support The Refuge through your gifts. Without you, The Refuge would not be poising itself to open soon!

We still need more volunteers soon for our training. Volunteers can help with various jobs. You are not all expected to counsel. We need volunteers to help with reception, to organize the office and donations that will be coming in. We need someone to help us set up our blessing room. We rented a storage unit because donations of baby items and furniture have been coming in and we had no place to put them. My house was running over. Praise the Lord! That’s a good problem.
For information on being a volunteer or making a contribution please call Collene Myers at 830-569-5883

We are still looking for property!

We have an office space on Reed Street, but we will not be serving women from this location. It will give us a good place to get organized and to meet with business people, pastors and others from the community. However, what we really need is a piece of property on which to place a building or better yet, a property with a building already on it. We have also been looking at places for lease, but haven’t been successful in finding what we need.
The South Texas Regional Health Fair went well. Many people came by our booth and received information. We made new contacts and met possible new clients as well.

Up coming events:
Please come and join us for these events.

· October 4th and 5th we will have a booth at the Atascosa County Fair.
· October 28th there will be an all gospel Cowboy Jamboree to benefit The Refuge.
Admission is only $4.00 + one baby item (This can be anything from diapers to wipes to baby clothes to a baby toy. There is no minimum or maximum cost for these items. Bring what you can afford.)
· November?- Volunteer Training

Pray about These Needs of The Refuge

· A property in which to open (rental or purchase)
· More volunteers to turn in their applications
· Male volunteers or strong women to help pick up donations and put them in the storage unit
· Shelves for storage and display
· Educational supplies- TV/DVD Player, DVDs, Books, Pamphlets, Bible studies, and etc. You can contribute toward a bundle of these items.
· Office equipment and supplies
· That we will have good attendance at the fund raisers.

Personal Prayer Request

· Please pray for my grandson Neill. He is having another MRI to determine what the problem is with the function of his eyes. They are not sure if it is a muscle problem or neurological, but he can’t look straight at an object. He looks from the side. He is also having a little bit of a balance problem only occasionally. He had one, but it didn’t turn out. He will have to be sedated for this next one.
· His mother Crystal is having lots of kidney problems, stones and infections, and was in the hospital four times during the month of September.
· I also have been having quite a few health issues of my own.

The RefugeAtascosa Pregnancy Care Center

830-569-5883

TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com

http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's

womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

The Refuge Showing It's Presense At Cowboy Homecoming In Pleasanton

2008-09-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

The Refuge Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center made its presence known at the Cowboy Homecoming Fair in Pleasanton City Park over the weekend (August 15-16). They sold ice cold lemonade and water to hot and weary visitors. They also sold homemade baked goods and glazed and spiced nuts baked by precious volunteers. Thanks so much to all you volunteers and those who support The Refuge through your gifts. Without you The Refuge would not be poising itself to open very soon!

Left to right three of our volunteers Crystal Koonce, Laurie Miller, and Robin Porter are pictured in our booth ( Ignore the date. My camera was acting up).

We need volunteers very soon for our training. For information on being a volunteer or making a contribution please call Collene Myers at 830-569-5883.

We were a little disappointed. Our deal on the house fell through, but I know that if God closed this door, he has something even better for us.

We have a new office space on Reed Street. We will not be serving women from this location, but it will give us a great place to get organized and to meet with business people, pastors and others from the community. We are looking at some places for lease.

We rented a storage unit because donations of baby items and furniture have been coming in and we had no place to put them. My house was running over. Praise the Lord! That’s a good problem.

Up coming events:

· September 25th we will have a booth at South Texas Regional Health Fair.
· October?- Volunteer Training
· October 4th and 5th we will have a booth at the Atascosa County Fair.
· October 28th there will be an all gospel Cowboy Jamboree to benefit The Refuge.

Pray about These Needs of The Refuge

· A building to open in (rental or purchase)
· More volunteers to turn in their applications- we need this immediately in order to have people trained before opening.
· Male volunteers or strong women to help pick up donations and put them in the storage unit
· Shelves for storage and display
· Educational supplies- TV/DVD Player, DVDs, Books, Pamphlets, Bible studies, and etc. You can contribute toward a bundle of these items.

In HimColleneMyers

The Refuge

Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center

830-569-5883

TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com

http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

August 2008 News Letter

2008-08-04T00:34:00.000-07:00

August, 2008
Dear Friends and Family,

Well I had an email almost completed to send you last month and various circumstances stopped me from sending it. I was going to tell you that things had fallen through on the house on Main Street. Well praise the Lord! They are back on again!

Things have been moving along, but perhaps a little more slowly than I would have preferred. After the great news that we had finally received our long awaited Federal Non Profit Status or 501 (c) (3), and donations could now come straight to The Refuge I expected to be getting into a property right away. Instead, the property we were hoping to buy was taken off the market after the owners turned down our offer. We were disappointed, but were looking at some other properties, and were also checking out rentals. I asked the real estate agent to ask the owners of the Main St. house if they would consider renting for a while. They wanted to meet with me and long story short, we came to an agreement and the sale is back on. Sometimes I want to get in a hurry, and God says “Just slow down a bit. Don’t get in a hurry.” He let me know I needed to just rest in Him for a while and wait for Him to do His work. To see a picture of the property, scroll down.

This property is in an excellent location with relatively high traffic. There is lots of property so we can add on in the future. And we will be able to have discrete parking in the rear. We will still need teams to help with remodeling and decorating. If you or your church is interested in doing some of these things, let me know, and give me a date that you might be available. You can also go online to TheBridge@namb.net to see the projects I have listed there. This property is right next to the park. What a great area for a mission trip to combine remodeling The Refuge with neighborhood Bible clubs in the park!

Thank you for your prayers. God hears and answers!

Up coming events:

· August 16th we will have a booth at the Cowboy Homecoming in the park. We hope to sell lots of lemonade, water and homemade treats to raise funds for The Refuge. We will be able to advertise that The Refuge will be open soon! And actually point to the location from our booth!

· September 25th we will have a booth at South Texas Regional Health Fair. This is a great public relations opportunity with the general public and a chance to mingle with many other medical and help oriented agencies.

· October 28th there will be an all gospel Cowboy Jamboree to benefit The Refuge.

· Some time in September or October- Volunteer Training

Prayer requests:

· For the owners to agree with the terms of our offer and give us the time needed to raise funds for the purchase of the property. It is our desire to remain debt free.

· For God to provide the finances needed to pay for this property before the closing date.
· For consistent finances to meet monthly commitments.

· For more volunteers to turn in their applications- we need this immediately in order to have people trained before opening.

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

May News Letter

2008-06-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Dear Friends and Family
Last month I gave you the great news that we finally received our long awaited Federal Non Profit Status or 501 (c) (3); so donations can now come straight to The Refuge rather than funneling through a church. This month I am pleased to tell you that we have found a property that we hope we can soon call the home of The Refuge. We are making an offer on it tomorrow June 3, 2008. It is located on Main Street in Pleasanton and backs right up to the city park. I think it is a good location and is in very good shape. It is small, but has plenty of space on the property to add on when that is needed. The lot is a full ½ acre. It is also an excellent building to add onto when we are ready. Because it has only one large and one really large room besides the bathroom, it will be easy to build in the rooms we need. We will need teams to help with the remodeling and decorating. If you or your church is interested in doing some of these things, let me know, and give me a date that you might be available. Since our property is adjacent to the park, some of you might want to consider a mission trip to work on The Refuge and combine it with teaching neighborhood Bible clubs in the park.

I actually put this picture in the news letter about three months ago as a place of interest and asked you to pray about it. Praise the Lord! I think He is answering those prayers.We only need approximately $30,000 more to purchase the property outright. Then after that, we will need supplies to fill our blessing rooms and offices.
We have a good start on some baby items thanks to my sweet daughter-in-law, Carolyn and some of you, my sweet friends. Thank you so much for the wonderful baby things you sent. Don’t I have a sweet daughter-in-law? God has blessed me so much with a wonderful family.

I participated in a health fair on May 7th with good results. Many people came by my table asking lots of questions and picking up information on the refuge.
Prayer requests:

For the owner of the property to accept our offer.

For God to provide the finances needed for us to purchase this property; so we can move forward.

For consistent finances to meet monthly commitments.

For more volunteers to turn in their applications- we need this immediately in order to have people trained before opening.

Up coming events:
In August we will have a booth at the Cowboy Homecoming in the park and may participate in the Cowboy Homecoming parade as well. If all goes as planned, we may be able to advertise our Open House for The Refuge Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center at this function!
In Him

ColleneMyers

The RefugeAtascosa Pregnancy Care Center

830-569-5883

TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com

http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

2008-04-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Family

I have great news! We finally have our Federal Non Profit Status or 501 (c) (3). We are still looking at properties and hope to have a place soon. I hope you will all be considering what you can do to help once we get a place. We will need teams to help with remodeling, decorating, and we’ll need supplies to fill our blessing rooms and offices. If you are interested in doing some of these things, let me know, and I will start to put together a list of contacts, so I can let you know as soon as I do what needs to be done.

We had a great Board training class this month. All six of our board members were present. I can’t believe I forget to take the opportunity to get a picture with everyone in it. I still don’t have a good picture to show you.

I have continued to speak at various churches and next month we have the opportunity to participate in a health fair. Be in prayer for us concerning that on May 7th.

Prayer requests are:
For God to provide us with a property so we can move forward.
Consistent finances to meet monthly commitments.
More volunteers to turn in their applications.
Up coming events such as the health fair in May, Cowboy Homecoming parade and in the park in August as well as other functions not mentioned.

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

PS

2008-04-02T20:51:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you about something that I forgot last time. My granddaughters, Kathrynne, Madelyn and Noelle Myers, shown in these pictures along with little brother Jonathan, thought of a unique way to earn money to donate to the Pregnancy Center. They have been making cards for special occasions and selling them; and in addition they have been making chocolate covered pretzels and snacks and selling them during break at there home school co-op classes.

All of this was their own idea and through their own labor. Now I’m sure mom supervised, but she has assured me the girls did the work and the selling on their own. Last month they presented me with $34 , and are planning to continue selling their pretzels for a while. This might be a neat idea for children’s groups that would like to raise funds for the center. Thanks for allowing me to brag on my grandchildren.

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

2008-03-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Family,
I have been remiss in keeping you posted. Please accept my apology.
We had a wonderful time at the Love For Life Banquet! The program, including speakers Carol Everett and Lisa Rush with music by Strings of Grace and special music by Danny Myers, was great! The food prepared by Lupita Criado and her group from Hosanna Baptist Church was absolutely wonderful. We also had ice cream provided by Keith Shearrer of Kaleidoscoops. Everything was wonderful!
Over $13,000 was raised that night and we received commitments of over $1,200 per month to follow.
I am so excited! It is starting to look like we may be able to open soon. Please be in prayer for specific things.

Pray that:

We will receive additional funds needed to purchase property and open the center.
More ladies will hear God’s voice and step up and volunteer to serve at the pregnancy center.
Other workers, men and women will be ready to do the work needed on the building God gives us.
We will choose the right building/property that God has waiting for us.

I have found a small house on a large lot that I think may be a good location and starting building for us. It is small, about half the size we expect to need; so we will need to add on or possibly get another building on the same property at some point in the future. We could even possibly use this first building for a thrift store (at a later time) that could help provide income for the center and a place where we could distribute clothing to the mothers for their babies after adding another larger building fro the pregnancy center. Many Pregnancy Centers are now doing this with great success. Here are some pictures of the property I looked at. I believe it can be purchased for less than the asking price (possibly $50,000). In that case if we chose this house, we would only need another $35,000 to make the purchase. Please be in prayer.

Address:812 N. MainPLEASANTON, TX 78064
Type: Commercial for Sale
Floors: Single Story
Square Feet: 800
Lot Size: 60 x 362 (1/2 acre)
School District: Pleasanton
Price: $60,000.00

First Annual Love for Life Banquet Coming in February

2008-01-23T23:52:00.000-08:00

Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center

Invites You to a
Fundraising Dinner
Love for Life

With Featured Speaker
Carol Everett
Of the Heidi Group

Carol Everett is unique because she comes with an overwhelming amount of experience in the area of abortion. Carol knows firsthand about abortion, having been both an abortion consumer and provider. Carol was involved in the operation of four abortion clinics from 1977 to 1983, overseeing 35,000 abortions. Carol experienced a change in her life when she came to know Jesus Christ as her personal Savior. Today, she is committed to safeguarding the health of women and their babies all over this nation. She also speaks to the post-abortive men and women to offer a message of healing and hope.
Carol has spoken on national broadcasting programs with Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Dr. Marlon Maddox of Point of View, Dr. D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries on Truths that Transform, and Pat Robertson of the 700 Club.
Carol is president and founder of The Heidi Group which offers many services to pregnancy centers all across Texas.

Special Music by
Strings of Grace,
Billy and Danny Myers and Judy Sanders

The Strings of Grace believe they have been called to share the Gospel through music. They are a southern gospel/country/blue grass quartet made up of two couples, Mike and Linda Bender and Chuck and Becky Lum. They have performed frequently in the South Texas area. Their performance will be a real treat.
Billy and Danny Myers and their sister Judy grew up in South Texas as well. Their beautiful voices will bless your heart.

Join Us

Saturday, February 16, 2008
6 PM

At Cowboy Fellowship

Pleasanton, Texas

There is absolutely no charge to attend but please RSVP to Suzy Hull 830-769-3081, Abby Pawelek 830-570-4969, Caryl Hudson 210-254-4041, or Lisa Rush 830-569-8888
by February, 9, 2008 to reserve your seats.

Please join us for this very exciting and important event in the life of The Refuge.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2007-12-18T15:41:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,
We have been working on getting “The Refuge” Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center opened in the Pleasanton area for the past year or so. As the year is coming to a close it finally looks like we are getting closer to really getting opened. We are now incorporated and are sending off our paper work for non profit status (501 C 3) by the end of the year. We have been looking at property and have been doing fund raising events.

I have made many friends along the way as I have been involved in different mission endeavors and I count you among them. As we come to the end of another year, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your prayers and support through the years. Our mission at The Refuge is to save the lives of many babies and to make Atascosa County a better place for our children and grandchildren. We want to teach the parents that come in to the center how to be better parents, and we want to introduce them to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I’m including some information from our flyer below; so you can see the kinds of services we will be offering. The flyer also includes donation information.I hope you will consider making a year-end gift to The Refuge to help us get opened. All gifts are tax-deductible. No matter if it is large or small, we will sincerely appreciate your support. I will make one promise to our supporters. That promise is this: I will be the best steward of your contributions that I can be.

We covet your prayers!Thank you again, and I pray for you to have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and blessed New Year. (See flyer info after sinature block.)

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
PO Box 509, Pleasanton, TX, 78064
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

The Refuge

Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
The Refuge will offer free pregnancy testing and practical assistance through our programs

Ministry Purpose

To save lives in the name of Jesus. We have positive solutions concerning
unexpected pregnancies.
To provide free education, including parenting classes, to
mothers who decide to keep their babies.
To provide abortion recovery classes to those who have already experienced

Free Programs
Confidential pregnancy testing
Lay counseling, and spiritual counseling
Maternity clothes
Baby clothes, diapers and many other items
Parenting classes (before and after birth)
Teaching on healthy relationships, abstinence/sexuality, and STDs
Abortion recovery classes
And more

Opportunities for Partnership
Pray for us and our ministry.
Volunteer to work at the center or on a committee.
Give the gift of financial support.
Host a baby shower or fund raiser.
Share about our services with friends, co-workers, etc.
Invite us to speak at your church, civic group, or club.

Please join with us to make The Refuge a reality.
Make a monthly contribution or a one time gift.
In order to receive a tax deductible receipt, currently checks should be payable to Cowboy Fellowship or FBC Splendora.
After this year the checks can be made out to The Refuge, but for this year only, make checks out to one of these two churches mentioned above and put for The Refuge in the memo line. We will still get the money. This is just so you can have a tax deductible receipt. Thanks again. Collene Myers

September News Letter

2007-09-17T22:27:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

It has been a long time since I sent out an actual News letter and mailed it to all my non- email using friends and supporters. I am sorry for that. You get used to just posting things on the blog site and expect everyone to know what is going on with you. When I started to think about it I realized, if I am not reminded, I don’t go to blog sites and check up on my friends; so maybe they don’t do that either. I don’t want to loose track of you all. I want to remind you how important you have all been to my life and ministry.

I was working in my office trying to put away some things I brought home from my son and daughter-in-law’s house where they had been sitting for about two years. There were a lot of things from my time with Mercy Ships. I found an envelope with a bunch of cards and notes encouraging me when I broke my leg within the first month of sailing with Mercy Ships. Once I started reading them, I was encouraged anew. It is funny how Satan tries to attack us with the same old discouragements again and again by just packaging them a little differently. Many of you may not realize (because I haven’t been writing as much) that I have been quite discouraged from time to time since embarking on this new journey with God to start a Crisis Pregnancy Center in Atascosa County. Well I have, and your past words of encouragement touched my heart all over again. Thank you again! And please don’t stop thinking of me and praying for me. I need your prayers.
Here is one of the scriptures you sent me almost five years ago. It still works! Praise The Lord!!

“Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow, for when your endurance is fully developed; you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” James 1:2-4.

We had a great steering committee meeting this month. We had 10 people in attendance. Praise the Lord! We discussed how to use the bottles donated by FBC Splendora, Texas for the “Baby Bottle Boomerang” fund raiser. We also received some large size bottles to place in businesses. We have already started to distribute them. We also made further plans concerning the fund raising banquet. Our hope is to have it before the end of the year.

On a personal note, I was blessed by Pastor Kerry(left) and Frenchy (right), from FBC Splendora! They came and chopped down and mowed the jungle I was living in. I didn’t have a lawn mower of my own and had been out of town quite a bit as well. I had bunches of small china berry trees growing everywhere. To make a long story short, it had really gotten out of hand. Praise the Lord again for the help of these two great guys!

Continue to pray for:
· Financial support
· Volunteers
· My personal finances and family situation.

God Bless you all!

In Him,
Collene Myers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb."
(Ps. 139:13 NIV)

August At A Glance

2007-08-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone

This is going to be a short post. We had a good steering committee meeting this month. Two people Abby Pawelek and Tresha Smoot volunteered to recruit help to distribute flyers during Cowboy Homecoming. This is a big celebration and parade in Pleasanton during August. Since I will be out of town until Sunday the 26th I will not know how things went with that until some time after that.

We did not get the yellow house; so we are back to square one on property.

Thanks to FBC Splendora ladies group we will have the bottles for the baby bottle boomerang (fundraiser). I also purchased the large bottles that can be distributed at businesses.

We have several new volunteer applications. I am encouraged that people are starting to be aware of the new ministry endeavor.

I have been blessed by a friend and supporter, Bud Leavel, who worked on my car several days this week and last, while I was in Arlington on business. In addition he insisted I use his car to get around while he worked on it. What a blessing!

Continue to pray for:
· Financial support
· Volunteers
· My personal finances and family situation.

God Bless you all!

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

July News

2007-07-31T23:51:00.000-07:00

There were six of us present at this month’s meeting. To start off we spent time in prayer and were able to discuss several important topics.

I reported on my trip to Ft. Worth and my meeting with Paula Odem, my trainer.

I let the committee know that the yellow house might actually be back on the table. However, when I met with the board of the other non profit organization that owns the house on the 26th; they decided once again to withdraw the offer. What a roller coaster ride!

I was able to do some community presentations this month and we got a little publicity in the Pleasanton Paper. We need to raise public awareness; so every little bit of publicity helps.

We are still working on having a baby bottle fund raiser and a fund raising banquet. We will discuss all these items further next meeting. I found that the cost of the bottles is really fairly reasonable. I am still awaiting scheduling information on the banquet.

I have still been having many problems with my car, but am thankful that it is running. A very kind friend of my son’s, Bud Leavell, worked very hard replacing my fuel pump and then two weeks later got my air conditioning running. It is imperative that I have a car that I can depend on due to the many appointments and meetings that I have all over the county. There are still many repairs that need to be done, but I am getting around, thanks to the Lord.

Our precious cargo arrived on June 29th.
Her name is Cadence Grace, and she weighed 6 pounds and 11 ounces.
My daughter had some difficulties. What should have been a normal delivery turned into a c-section which then developed an infection; so I have been extremely busy trying to keep up with my work ,and taking care of my daughter’s needs in addition to three babies at home. I think we are finally turning a corner. My daughter is getting better now and can do more for herself and her children.

Prayer requests:
· Please continue to pray for a new car for me.
· For the two planed fund raisers.
· For the 501C3 (non-profit papers) to be completed.
· For funds to start coming in for the Pregnancy Center

In Him,
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Center
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

If you or anyone you know would like to make a contribution it can be sent to:
The Refuge,
PO Box 509,
Pleasanton TX, 78064
Please make checks payable to FBC Splendora TX, or Cowboy Fellowship, Pleasanton TX. and Write in memo line of check "for The Refuge".

June Update

2007-06-18T23:46:00.000-07:00

Once again our steering committee meeting was a little short on attendance, but we spent time in prayer and were able to discuss several important topics.
I let the committee know that the house that was originally offered, if we could remove it from the property it was on to another location, had been withdrawn. However, it is possible that we may have the use of another smaller house without having to move it, at least temporarily. I am to meet in July with the board of the other non profit that owns the house.
We discussed having a baby bottle fund raiser and a fund raising banquet. We will discuss all these items further next meeting. I am checking into the cost of the bottles and the banquet.

I have been having many problems with my car and recently had to have repairs on it that only fixed part of the problem. It seems there are so many problems that it would be better to start over with another car. The repairs that it needed would have cost almost twice what I paid for it to begin with. It is imperative that I have a car that I can depend on due to the many appointments and meetings that I have all over the county. I will need to find a new car soon since only a small portion of what needed to be repaired was actually done.

I visited with my trainer in Ft. Worth this week, and got some valuable info and literature for the pregnancy center.

My daughter that lives with me is having a baby probably some time next week. Scheduling may get difficult. So please keep us in your prayers.

Prayer requests:

Please pray for a new car for me.
For the two planed fund raisers
For the 501C3 (non-profit papers) to be completed
For funds to start coming in for the pregnancy center
For the new baby on the way and all the wonderful joys of scheduling that comes with it

In Him,

Collene Myers

May News Letter

2007-05-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

It has been a while since I did a news letter, because I have a blog site now and you can see my regular entries there. I don't think everyone has gotten the word about it, because it doesn't appear the site has been visited very much. In case you don’t already have the site address it is http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/. From now on I will only be sending news letters occationally, but you will be able to get more frequent updates at the above address.

We just had our sixth steering committee meeting on Thursday, May 10th. It was apparently a bad day for everyone, because there were only 3 of us there. We now have 8 members, including myself. We also have some friends of the committee that attend fairly regularly. Hopefully next month will be better.

We are still in phase one of the plan, but things are starting to move along. People are starting to find out about the ministry and I am beginning to compile a list of people who want to volunteer.

Actually I guess you could say we have a foot in phase two, because although we still have not received any monetary contributions, we have had the offer of a house to move to another property. I had a contractor look at it with me. It could be moved, but he thinks it would be pretty expensive to move, because it has had parts added on. I am in the process of getting a quote from a house moving company. We also need a piece of property to put it on. Once we have all the facts, we will have to make a decision.

We are also working on some other fund raisers. We have a place to have a fund raising banquet and one of our committee members is helping me work on details for that at present. We are also collecting baby bottles to hand out for people to collect extra change cash or checks and place in the bottles.

We are still working on our application for non profit status. I now have a desk, a bookshelf, a FAX machine and some chairs donated by FBC Poteet and by Paul and Suzy Hull. Stan and Gayle Zettner helped me move them from the two locations to my house. I guess you could say that other than the steering committee they were my first volunteers.

Prayer Requests

Pray for me and the entire committee, because I have really felt the efforts of Satan trying to hinder us from accomplishing the task God has given us.
Pray for future volunteers to be prepared, to hear the call, and to step forward.
Pray for individuals, churches and organizations to hear God’s prompting to contribute funds and obey the call.
Pray for wisdom concerning the choosing of a building and property. We want God’s best and perfect will in the entire process.

If you or anyone you know would like to make a contribution it can be sent to:

The Refuge,

PO Box 509,

Pleasanton TX, 78064

Please make checks payable to FBC Splendora TX, or Cowboy Fellowship, Pleasanton TX. and
Write in memo line of check "for The Refuge".

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Center
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/.

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

April Steering Committee Meeting

2007-04-23T22:24:00.000-07:00

At the fith monthly steering committee meeting we voted on a new logo. It is completely different from the other one, but I think you will like it. I would like to recognize and thank Jeremy Cooke for all his hard work on the logo. I think he did an excellent job!

Things have been moving a little more rapidly this month. We now have a place to receive donations. In fact we now have two places to receive donations. The first to offer us this service is FBC of Splendora Texas, and the second is Cowboy Fellowship in Pleasanton Texas. Now if some funds will start coming in we will be set!

I had several appointments with pastors and prospective volunteers this month and shared the good news with the committee.

In addition I shared with them that I was offered the opportunity to hand out flyers at the Poteet Strawberry Festival, which I did last weekend.

We have added one more steering committee member. Her name is Abby Pawelek. Abby is the wife of Pete Pawelek, the pastor of Cowboy Fellowship in Pleasanton. She makes our seventh member.

Please be in prayer as we visit pastors and churches, that we will begin to recruit volunteers for the center and will start to receive donations that are essential to opening the center.

If you or anyone you know would like to make a contribution it can be sent to:
The Refuge
PO Box 509
Pleasanton TX, 78064

Please make checks payable to either FBC Splendora TX or Cowboy Fellowship, Pleasanton TX. and
write in memo line of check "for The Refuge".

In Him,

Collene Myers

Fourth Steering Committee Meeting

2007-03-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

The steering committee had it's fourth meeting on Monday, March, 12th. We have two new members, Paul and Suzy Hull.

We are looking at a new logo. One of the friends of the steering committee, Janet Jackson, put a lot of time and effort into developing it. Tell me what you think. I would like to have input.

I presented a proposed budget to the committee for review.

We prayed for progress in getting all done that we need to get done. Please be in prayer with us.

In Him
Collene Myers

February Meeting

2007-02-21T14:24:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

Our third monthly steering committee meeting was held on February 12th, 2007. There were six people in attendance although only three of us were actual steering committee members. We do have 3-4 possible new members. At present we have five steering committee members.

Old business was discussed.

We discussed some possibilities for a logo for The Refuge. One rough draft has already been submitted.

We prayed for everyone's health, because some of us have been sick. We also prayed for new members and for help with time management; so we can get the things done that need to be done. We specifically asked for a lawyer and some business people to help with specific tasks.

I told everyone I have started a blog site. As soon as we have a logo I will replace my picture on the blog with the logo.

God bless you all until next time.

In Him,

Collene Myers

January Steering Committee Meeting

2007-02-01T21:15:00.000-08:00

We had our second meeting on January 29. We added one more member and one more possible member. We elected a secretary who will take minutes; so we can keep up with what we do from meeting to meeting. Then we elected a vice- chairman of the committee to assist me and in case I can't be there for some reason.

We are still looking for more members, specifically for a lawyer and someone to help with grant writing. Some of the members feel they may know some that will help.

We discussed some possible properties and locations for the center.

The most important thing we did was pray. In addition to praying for progress on the center and for God to provide needed funds and supplies, we also prayed for my health ( I've been pretty sick this month.), and my mom's up coming surgery. I hope you will be in prayer about those things as well.

We decided to have regular meetings on the second Monday of the month; so the next meeting is scheduled on February 12th.

I'll keep you posted!

2007-02-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas News Letter- First Steering Committee Meeting... 2006, December

Hello Everyone and a very Merry Christmas!

I hope this finds all of you doing well. I t has been a while since I wrote last; so I wanted to let you know I am still alive and working on getting a Crisis pregnancy center going in Pleasanton.

I had my first scheduled steering committee meeting this month. We will be meeting monthly after this. I’m sad to say only three of the seven people I was expecting turned up.

Of course we spent part of our time in prayer, which is one of the most important reasons for our meeting.

We accomplish a few things. Keith, who is a tax expert and one of two men on our steering committee, is going to review papers for getting our non-profit status in the works. He will also be giving me information on someone who might help us with some grant writing. Someone else is also going to try to get us some more up to date statistics concerning the local counties. We set a target date for opening the center on December 2007.

We will be meeting monthly unless special business brings us together on additional nights. Everyone on the committee also has a full time job and other duties; so I don’t want to over burden them with too many meetings.

Next time you here from me you will probably be getting a blog site you can go to. I am trying to get one set up; so you can go to it to see what we are doing at your own convenience.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all of you!!

In Him,
Collene Myers
Labels: 2006, December