The Walk For Life and Prayer Rally was held in Warren on Sunday after a two-year absence, sponsored by HopePlace-Warren.
The actual walk was canceled and the event moved inside the First Baptist Church Activities Building due to a sudden thunderstorm. It was canceled for the past two years due to COVID-19 but had been held for the five years prior to that.
Top photo: Locals attending the Walk For Life and Prayer Rally held at First Baptist Church Sunday. Photo by Tim Kessler.
HopePlace Director Wendy Curry gave the welcome and announced her center will begin True Girl classes for ages 7-12 on Feb. 7. At the same time, father-son classes will start for 7- to 15-year-old boys.
Those classes will be held every other week. In between, 13- to 15-year-old and 16- to 18-year-old girls will have Lies Young Women Believe classes.
A ministry will also begin for homeless people to shower, wash their clothes, get documentation for drivers’ licenses or birth certificates to help them get jobs or disability benefits.
A food pantry has been added to HopePlace and on this Thursday, from noon-2 p.m., food items will be provided along with a dinner. Such clients can use the food pantry twice a month.
“We see 95 percent elderly (for food),” Curry said.
A Dave Ramsey financial course will also be held.
Going with a pro-life theme, state Sen. Ben Gilmore gave the keynote address, the first one for the event since Roe v. Wade was overturned and Arkansas enacted a trigger law to ban most abortions.
“This is a day to celebrate. It’s a solemn day to remember all the children’s lives we’ve lost and to consider where we go from now,” he said, noting he grew up in a pro-life home and his parents took him to several state and national pro-life rallies.
“It’s important that we instill those values in young people. We can’t sit on the sidelines,” Gilmore said. “We have to be people of courage in this fight. God demands that we defend life.”
Curry spoke about how some abortions are still occurring. “We have to pray harder, be smarter and keep fighting,” she said.
Gilmore and the Revs. Tim Saunders, Matt Overall, John Gaskin and Ricky Rauls offered prayers to end the rally.
