Katherina Gonzalez, 19, said she never really got excited about Christmas before this year. Sitting near her 10-month-old Mila’s high chair clutching an accounting textbook, she talks about how her excitement for Christmas has changed.
“Now I have a reason to be excited,” she said. “It’s the birth of Christ so you have that spirit and with the baby it’s so much fun.”
This is Gonzalez’s first Christmas as a new mother and her second at Lifeline Family Center.
Lifeline is a charity that supports and houses unwed mothers and is home away from home for many young women this holiday season, most left with nowhere to go after they became pregnant.
This holiday, local churches have stepped in to help fulfill these women’s holiday wish-lists. For many, this is their first Christmas with their child as a new mother.
“We have been blessed with a ton of donations for the girls and the babies,” said assistant director Jenna Steffel. “With the little ones they really get into the spirit.”
Lifeline’s lobby is decorated with a Christmas tree and angel ornaments. Its conference room is filled with donated toys and baby items for the families living in the center.
Some of those items will be wrapped and stored under the tree for baby Mila. This is her first Christmas. Gonzalez said Mila’s first visit by Santa Claus was not a happy experience for the 10-month-old.
“She didn’t like him,” she said laughing. “She wouldn’t stop crying. She didn’t like him at all.”
Right now, Lifeline is hosting 11 women, with three expecting, and 11 babies. Some of the young women came in with toddlers. Gonzalez has been living at the center for about 15 months.
“When I got pregnant, I went to this clinic,” Gonzalez said. “I didn’t know what to do.”
She said a nurse at the clinic told her about the Lifeline program.
“She told me about it and it was like a miracle,” Gonzalez said.
During the year, the center provides food and shelter while encouraging the young women to continue their education. Once the baby is born, the new family stays at the center and is welcome until their child’s second birthday.
“So they can build a better life for them and their baby,” Steffel said. “It’s a personal journey. They become more focused on their schooling, then going out into the real world.”
Since being at the center, Gonzalez has obtained her GED and is now in an accounting program.
“I never thought I’d be good at math,” Gonzalez said. “I just started liking it and got better and better at it.”
Steffel said one of Lifeline’s main goals is the women’s education and that all are working for their GED or a program in higher education.
Steffel said a center this size could not operate without support and she said they have about 70 to 80 volunteers. They assist with everything from working in the nursery, to tutoring, to helping with mailings and promotional items .
Volunteer Dee Schuster has been working with the center since last March .
She said the nursery has touched her heart and that’s where she spends the most time. “It’s where I want to be. When I started, there were three kids but now there are 11,” Schuster said. “It’s a full house.”
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