After 2019 fire, pregnancy care center re-opens in new location in Indy

Linda Kile, then-president and executive director of Great Lakes Gabriel Project, and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita offer broad smiles as they prepare to cut a ribbon to officially open 1st Choice for Women pregnancy care center on the southwest side of Indianapolis on June 14. (Photo by Natalie Hoefer)

By Natalie Hoefer

After a nearly six-year journey, 1st Choice for Women’s new pregnancy care center opened for business on the southwest side of Indianapolis.

On Nov. 30, 2019, “a fire forced us from the building where our Gabriel Project and 1st Choice for Women offices were located,” Linda Kile, then-president and executive director of Great Lakes Gabriel Project, said to the crowd gathered for an opening event on June 14.

“It took two years of discernment and patient—and sometimes not patient— waiting before God finally revealed where he wanted us to reopen our doors. It took another two and a half years for him to connect us with the contractor that he chose to handle the renovations.

“And today, finally, we are here to celebrate the reopening of 1st Choice for Women.”

Joyous applause erupted from the roughly 50 Gabriel Project board members, volunteers and supporters.

The event included a blessing of the grounds and building by Father Jerry Byrd, then-pastor of the three parishes in Jennings County; talks by Kile, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and others; a ribbon-cutting and tours of the facility.

“This is not just a celebration for me, for the Gabriel Project and our board of directors,” Kile told those present. “It is a celebration of your prayers, your belief in us, and your obedience to God when he called you to this ministry.”

‘God’s graces are flowing’

1st Choice for Women originally opened in 2010 in a building less than a mile from the Planned Parenthood former abortion center on the northwest side of Indianapolis. Its mission was to offer life-embracing services with compassion to women facing an unplanned pregnancy.

The facility was declared a total loss after the 2019 fire.

“At this point, it sounds like we’ll probably need to start from scratch,” Kile said in a Dec. 13, 2019, Criterion article about the fire.

A two-year—and often frustrating—search led to the December 2021 purchase of the new facility, a three-bedroom home on Kentucky Avenue on the city’s southwest side—an area where the next closest pregnancy care center is nearly 20 minutes away in Mooresville.

Much work went into the location during the next three and a half years. The property had to be rezoned and brought up to code for commercial use. Then came the gutting and renovation of the home to fit the needs of the pregnancy care center.

Kile shared a story about the renovation process.

At a time when “the walls were bare and we were just down to two by fours,” she bought 10 Holy Family medals and 10 Miraculous Medals and had them blessed by the pastor of her home parish, St. Ann in Indianapolis.

“One of the guys on the renovation crew is actually a parishioner at St. Ann,” Kile said. She gave the blessed medals to him to be placed throughout the home’s structure.

“God’s graces are flowing from the walls through the miracle of the blessed medals,” she said. “So, even when people don’t know that God is in that room, he is in that room.”

‘Safe, loved and valued’

Kile, whose last day in her role with Great Lakes Gabriel Project was on July 14, told those gathered at the June 14 event of her excitement to finally start again the work of 1st Choice for Women.

“The work that is done at pregnancy centers everywhere … is the work that we will do here,” she said. “The work that will help us empower women to come to us for help in their time of need. The work God has called each of us to as we fulfill his mission to create a culture of life and a civilization of love. The work that lets women know we’re here for them to listen to them, to educate them and empower them with truth and love, to help them be great moms and strong leaders of their families.”

1st Choice for Women offers free pregnancy testing, free ultrasounds, peer mentoring and help to connect women to local resources.

“When a woman comes through our door, we will share the truth with her about all three of her options: parenting, abortion and lovingly placing for adoption,” Kile explained.

“For the moms who may need a little extra hand-holding, we will connect them to a Gabriel Project church. They will be adopted and mentored by a Gabriel Angel not only during her pregnancy but also beyond the birth of her child.”

Through a partnership with Bright Course, women who receive help from

1st Choice for Women “can take hundreds of life skill classes covering topics like fetal development, parenting, budgeting and more,” said Kile.

“Each time [a mom] takes a class or visits our center, she will earn points that she can use in our [on-site] baby store to shop for the things that she chooses for her child.”

She spoke of a promise “to each woman who comes through our doors: to offer confidential, loving care in an atmosphere where she feels safe, loved and valued.”

This ‘is where the culture changes’

Prior to cutting a ribbon with Kile to officially open 1st Choice for Women, Rokita addressed those present, focusing on the different roles between government and citizens in eradicating abortion.

The role of the attorney general’s office is prosecuting doctors and others who break state laws regarding abortion, he explained.

“We could do everything possible to enforce the laws” surrounding abortion, said Rokita. “We can follow the letter of all those words.”

But making abortion illegal can’t be the end goal, he continued. Rather, the goal is for abortion “to be unthinkable,” said Rokita, a Catholic. “It has to be a cultural change that comes into the heart. … To me, that’s really what the Gospel instructs us to do.”

While the government’s role is to protect the vulnerable—“and the unborn are the most vulnerable of all of us,” he noted—“government is not meant to make those cultural changes. Citizens are.

“This work [of 1st Choice for Women] is where the culture changes. It’s not supposed to be through my office. It’s here. You have to do this—we have to do this—one heart at a time. ...

“On behalf of the people of Indiana, I want to thank you,” said Rokita. “Because you are the solution.”

That solution comes through the compassion offered to those seeking help at 1st Choice for Women. As Kile noted in her address, “We want every woman facing an unplanned pregnancy to know that we’re here for her.”
 

(1st Choice for Women is located at 3727 Kentucky Ave. in Indianapolis. Donations to Great Lakes Gabriel Project can be made online at tinyurl.com/GLGP-Give, or send a check for “The Gabriel Project” to Gabriel Project, P.O Box 422, Camby, IN, 46113. To learn about volunteer opportunities at 1st Choice for Women, contact Lourdes Padilla at 812-374-7331 or padillas4life@gmail.com.) †