Direct Material Assistance
Cleveland Right to Life volunteers operate the Treasures for Life Thrift Store located in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood of Cleveland. Donations of gently used items such as clothing, small household goods, and baby items are given to young mothers and families in need with the balance being sold in our store to support our programs. Over the years, our little store has become a community center where our volunteers and customers come together to celebrate life. For many of them, particularly the elderly, this is a safe place where they can come to receive the help they need and to give back. Our store and the assistance we provide crosses age, race, ethnic, and religious backgrounds to celebrate life. Thanks to the generosity of our donors and volunteers we are able to provide direct material assistance to over 1,500 individuals and families each year who have been referred by social workers from dozens of social services organizations such as prison services, pregnancy centers, numerous hospitals, schools, First Call for Help, Cleveland Catholic Charities, and Cuyahoga County Social Services.
Education
Of all the programs we provide, education is the largest in terms of scope and visibility. One of the beautiful things about Life is that you never know when you will have a “teachable moment” — Life itself is an education, and we are all students and educators. We believe that every person is created in the image and likeness of God and that each person’s soul in searching and longing for the Truth. It is our goal to provide educational programs, news services, and materials that will inform, educate, and motivate people to build a Culture of Life by protecting the dignity of every individual from conception to natural death. Major educational initiatives of Cleveland Right to Life are:
- Bringing America Back to Life Convention — The most significant educational event for CRTL is our annual two-day convention, which was first held in March 2010. We believe that through Prayer — Action — Voting — and Education (PAVE) we can build a culture of life. Our goal is to cultivate a community of individuals and organizations committed to promoting and protecting the sanctity of life in all its stages. The audiovisual captures generated from the Convention are used nationally and locally as an educational platform and teaching aid to equip and engage groups and individuals interested in nurturing a strong pro-life group at the grassroots level so necessary to the fight for Life and Family. Nationally-renowned speakers at our Convention have included Archbishop Charles Chaput, Hugh Hewitt, Star Parker, Immaculee Ilibagiza, Raymond Arroyo, Dinesh D’Souza, Professor Robert George, Rev. Robert Sirico, David Barton, Ryan T. Anderson, Judie Brown, Abby Johnson, and Bobby Schindler. Our event has been broadcast live nationally during Hugh Hewitt’s radio show. In addition, the energizing words of wisdom from our speakers continue to be spread to a wider audience through the broadcast of the presentations on our radio program From the Median, which is made possible through listener and member support. Bringing America Back to Life Convention presentations have been regularly featured on the EWTN Catholic Network Television show “EWTN on Location.”
- “From the Median“ Radio Program — A one-hour long weeknight radio program on the Salem Radio Network (the only pro-life hour on the Salem Network) and the Wilkins Radio Network and airs in the Cleveland, Detroit, Richmond, and Kansas City markets. In Cleveland the program airs on WHKW 1220 AM – The Word, where the signal reaches 4.5 million residents and has a weekly listening audience of 25,000 reaching Akron, Canton, Youngstown, Warren, and the Greater Cleveland area and can be heard regularly in Canada. The Cleveland media market is ranked as the 12th largest in the nation. The WLQV FaithTalk 1500AM signal covers Southeast Michigan and Southwestern Ontario, Canada. In 2017 our radio program started airing in Richmond, VA on the Wilkin’s Radio Network on WDZY AM1290 & FM103.3 adding another potential 1 million homes to our listening audience. And our newest listening audience in Kansas City has added even more listeners to our reach.
- Legislative Education — Important arenas in which all Civil Rights battles are fought include legislation and politics. Whereas the direct material assistance and education portions of our work are geared towards forming consciences of individuals and the public at large — our legislative and political work focus on educating our elected officials, at every level, to enable them to enact laws and public policies that recognize the sanctity of life in all stages from conception to natural death. Specific activities carried out by Cleveland Right to life include:
- Public Relations – We want to bring the life issues to the forefront in all elections. We encourage candidates to make their position on life issues known to the public. Our goal is to make pro-life candidates recognize that their position is critical to their political success and to educate the minds and hearts of anti-life candidates. Once elected, we hold them accountable for their actions by publicizing their voting records, speeches, and organizational affiliations. We use our media wisely throughout the year to inform.
- Our organization is on the cutting edge of pro-life/pro-family policymaking, and we work with diverse groups around the State and the country to promote and expand our mission. As such, Cleveland Right to Life was a founding member of the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio — the largest and fastest-growing grassroots pro-life coalition in the state.