Cheryl Calire called it “Lucky 13.”
The 13th annual St. Gianna Molla Banquet will be Calire’s last as she is transferring reins of the Respect Life Office to Cheryl Zielin-Ersing. Looking out into the crowd of 320 that packed Classics V in Amherst on April 25, Calire said she knew each person in the room personally.
“I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you still continue to come each year and support what we do,” she told them.
Calire made some big announcements before welcoming keynote speaker Diane Ferraro, CEO of Save the Storks.
• Gianna Emanuela Molla, the daughter of St. Gianna Molla, the namesake of the Diocese of Buffalo’s pregnancy care centers, will come to Buffalo July 10-14. Calire is grateful Western New York Catholics will have an opportunity to meet the daughter of a saint.
“It was life changing for me, and I truly believe it will be life changing for you,” she said.
• An eighth St. Gianna Molla Pregnancy Care Center will open in Holley, during Gianna Emanuela’s visit.
• The Respect Life Office has been working with Catholic Cemeteries to have a designated St. Gianna & Pietro Molla Family section in diocesan cemeteries.
• A new 501(c)(3) venture called “Eternal Choice of Love,” has begun. Through the help of some very committed donors, as well as Jim Grubka, a longtime advocate for life issues with the Knights of Columbus, who passed away April 8, they purchased the empty lot next to the Buffalo Women’s Services Clinic. That space will be used for prayerful gatherings to end abortion.
Calire then welcomed Ferraro, who spoke from her heart about the personal tragedies she had endured. The worst being not seeing her dream of having that perfect storybook family.
“My life word is hope, which we can only have through faith in Jesus,” she said. “I realized God was using all of my experiences from being almost aborted to being adopted, losing my mom to cancer, infertility, getting a divorce, fostering and adopting children who were tough but beautiful children. None of this was planned or part of my dream for my life.”
Also not planned was becoming the CEO of a pro-life organization. Save the Stork buses are mobile medical clinics, equipped with ultrasound machines, that offer a positive look at pregnancy to counteract the anti-motherhood rhetoric of Planned Parenthood.
“For over 100 years in America the abortion industry has become the self-proclaimed authority on women’s health care. Sadly today, there are some regular churchgoers who think Planned Parenthood and abortion are good for women,” Ferraro said. “Planned Parenthood has told generations of women they are not cut out to be a mom, that they can’t handle the pressure of raising children. They convinced women that abortion can be the answer to anything.”
Now in 34 states, Save the Storks have saved 12,000 babies since 2012.