Faith-based pregnancy center turns 30

WASILLA — With the organization’s 30th anniversary celebration coming up, a wealth of success stories are being told by HeartReach Center employees, volunteers and former clients.

Opened in 1985 by Renee and Tom Galvas, the center was developed under the national, faith-based nonprofit Care Net to serve pregnant women “in crisis” — women who think they have nowhere to go.

“I think because our society is so fragmented, there’s not a lot of moms that are connected to their daughters and dads that are connected with their sons,”

executive director Joyce Moropoulos said. “They feel like they don't have someone that they can go to, and that’s what HeartReach is.”

Although it started with a focus on the woman and her pregnancy, HeartReach now offers parenting classes for men and women — in addition to one-on-one counseling services — in which participants can earn “parent bucks” to spend on new baby items (such as clothing and toys). HeartReach also provides qualifying new mothers with diapers and car seats for free.

Sometimes there are more general life skills that young parents need, and HeartReach teaches those, too.

“They can learn … all those financial things that, if you don't grow up knowing, it’s wonderful to have someone, a mentor, to help you walk through that process,” Moropoulos said.

As a Christian organization, HeartReach incorporates biblical principles into its program, but conversion is not necessary for receiving services or graduating from a program.

“It’s not something they push on you,” said former client Eddie Tompkins, who was once a skeptic himself. “That’s how they run their program, but it’s not required.”

Two years ago, Tompkins was entering a court case with the Office of Children’s Services, which required that he take parenting classes, among other things. He chose HeartReach because their classes were free. Tompkins was also allowed to pick his curriculum from hundreds of programs, and liked his classes so much that he ended up sticking with the organization for weeks beyond the timeframe required by OCS.

But what he found most valuable were the conversations with his mentor, Al Strawn.

“Through the classes, Al brought me to God,” Tompkins said. “That’s been a most influential part of my life.”

Tompkins did not fulfill all the requirements of the court within the necessary timeframe, resulting in the adoption of his daughter by his parents. But he said the center did eventually help him turn his life around. He went through treatment for addiction to pain relievers, engaged in an active lifestyle, got a job and got married.

“Going to HeartReach is like one of the best things I’ve ever done,” Tompkins said. “You’re not just a person taking a class, you’re not just a client. They have a genuine interest in your well-being and how things are going.”

Tompkins still keeps in contact with Strawn, who said he finds “great reward in helping people like Eddie.”

“Just to see him now, thriving, it’s really exciting, it energizes me,” Strawn said.

At first, Strawn wasn’t sure he was cut out for the job of being a mentor.

“I was a bit unsure that I could meet that need, but I could see that it was important,” he said. “You see the struggles, but then you can also just see the potential of that person, and it makes you wanna come back.”

Palmer’s Neve Michael is another former client who had those struggles.

“I had a pretty challenging childhood,” Michael said. “I had grown up believing in God, but I was always just mad at him more often than not.”

The same was true about seven years ago, when Michael was struggling with mental health issues, she said. Trying to escape, she moved home to Alaska from Oregon, but soon realized the location was not the problem. It was here she became pregnant by someone who was “clearly not interested in being involved,” she said.

Michael was of a one-track mind at that point — she needed insurance. For state coverage, she needed confirmation of her pregnancy by a qualified professional, which HeartReach could offer.

When she set up an appointment, she didn’t know HeartReach was a faith-based organization.

“If I had (known), I probably wouldn’t have gone, and that would have been one of the greatest tragedies of my life,” she said.

Reluctant though she was to keep her appointment once she found out about the faith component, she didn’t want to wait for a slot to open up at another facility. So she went.

And everything changed.

“They showed a side of Christianity as it should be, of love, that non-judgmental, not harsh, non-criticizing way of guiding someone with love that was so vital to my peace of mind,” Michael said. “I never once walked in there and felt ashamed of who I was.”

Michael spent about 18 months with HeartReach, seeking counseling from staff there after her son Landon was born, and after doctors discovered his autism.

Michael was determined to do the best she could for her son.

“My confidence in parenting him came from HeartReach,” she said.

Once a skeptic herself, Michael advised others to give the organization a chance.

“If the faith side of it is a turn-off for you, ignore it and go anyway,” she said.

HeartReach Center is currently located at 924 Leatherleaf Loop in Wasilla, though land has been purchased for development of a new facility on Seward-Meridian Parkway. For more information, call 373-3456.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.