The Movement for a Better America

By Dennis M. Howard

There I was scratching my head about where we were going to find the money to launch our new 2008 Campaign for Life. .

In all my years in journalism and advertising, I have never believed in any campaign more deeply than I believe in this positive, compassionate grass roots campaign and its power to persuade those who are still confused about abortion.

This campaign has everything going for it.

• The voice of the innocent speaking out about the awesome beauty of God's wonderful gift of life.
• The terrible toll of more than 50 million babies slaughtered since the Supreme Court handed down Roe v. Wade. That�s equal to the population of our 64 largest cities.
• The stark contrast between the $1.3 billion that will be spent on the presidential campaign this year and the difficulty of raising money to change hearts and minds for life. Yet the contrast between the cost effectiveness of these options is mind-blowing.
  
• It costs just $25 on average for us to change enough hearts and minds to prevent one abortion and we have the facts to prove it. That saves some misguided couple $450 for an abortion. But more than that, it saves the country a downstream loss of $44,000 a year in future GDP.
  
• Compounded over a lifetime, that's $23 million per baby. What an incredible return on investment! And the spiritual rewards are infinite. People ought to be falling over themselves to help us, but instead they are writing $2300 checks to help pro-abortion candidates get elected to the highest office in the land. It's insane!
  
• And, finally, there is the very real choice every one of us is called to make to say "yes" or "no" to life. Shall we raise our voices in common cause to make abortion rare? Or shall we sit back in our comfortable chairs and do nothing while evil triumphs?

A great message, but where can we find the money we need to get it to the millions of people who need to hear it? Like many other smaller non-profits in the wake of all the recent floods, and tsunamis and hurricanes -- never mind the rising cost of gasoline -- our fundraising efforts have faltered. It seemed as if the big time operators had sucked all the air out of the system.

The result is: big chunks of the money never get to where they will do the most good.

After putting 20,000 hours and $20,000 into this great cause, I had no place left to turn except to the good Lord. Then I thought, "Hey, that's not so bad. It has only cost me $1 an hour to take on the greatest cause on earth for over 10 years!"

So I went to church, put my next to last buck in the basket, and said a quiet prayer.

"Lord, I'm not sure where You are leading me, but here I am, and this "Say 'Yes' to Life" campaign is the best answer I can come up with for a problem that must surely rend your broken heart. The rest is  up to You."

That's when I started getting emails and phone calls. The first one came from a woman who was struggling to care for a sick, elderly husband. She had a problem. Her daughter had gone to Europe and left her old car behind, but she had no place to keep it. Could we take it off her hands?

I couldn't help thinking of the gospel story of the widow's mite. Suddenly, our car donation program was coming back to life! I called my friend Dennis at Moro's Automotive in Mendham and asked him if he would mind checking out the car for us. He said, "Sure!"

I had barely hung up the phone when I got another call from a man who had donated a car to us five years before. He had a nifty 2000 Chevy S10 Supercab Pickup Truck with 4WD that he would like to donate. It was my turn to say, "Sure!"

When we picked up the Chevy S10 on September 11, our kind donor showed me our acknowledgement letter from his previous donation. The date was September 11, 2001!

I could feel the hair crawl on the back of my neck. God was acting spectacular again.

The results can be pretty spectacular. Just today I got an email from a friend in Pennsylvania telling me about two babies who are being baptized by Father Pavone on July 12. Both were "saves" from a nearby abortion clinic just a few months ago. They weren't just saved from abortion. Now they are on their way to being saved for all eternity. God is so generous in His providence. All we have to do is say "Yes!"

With your help, blessings like these can be even more spectacular. Not just for us and the babies, but for you as well. God will never forget where your heart is -- on the side of life.

You can see that in the positive message of our campaign for life ads. To see a sample ad, just click on the pdf link. (Acrobat Reader should pop up to let you see it.)

I recently spoke to 750 teens at the Salesian Pro-Life Youth Rally at Seton Hall on the same theme, "Say Yes to God! Say Yes to Life!" These are the messages today's young people need to hear to give them real hope and to inspire them to go out and change a despairing world.

It costs $450 for a typical abortion. But we know that it only costs us about $25 to prevent one abortion through compassionate education. You would think a 20:1 ratio like that one would make this a no-brainer. Especially when you consider what it will cost the rest of us down the line for every baby who is aborted.

So if you have $25 you would like to send on a noble adventure, consider donating it today! Use the downloadable reply form on these pages. (It even includes its own envelope!) And God bless you for it.

Email Us! Use the form below . .

• to send us your comments and suggestions.
• to volunteer as a local representative for The Movement for a Better America.
• to invite an MBA speaker to a church or community event.
• to organize an MBA "Meet Up for Life" meeting.
• to sponsor an MBA fundraising event. We'll be happy to help in planning the program and to supply speakers.
• to order any of our publications. (Use comment section of form for titles.)
• to make a donation of $25, $50, $100 or more, use the donate button above, or simply send us a check to: The Movement for a Better America, PO Box 470, Mt. Freedom, NJ, 07970-0470. A sample package of current MBA materials will be sent to you via return mail.
• Meanwhile, please pray that hearts and minds will be touched by our Campaign for Life.
  

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Donate Your Car

Car donations have been the lifeline of our existence. Today we have some 240 lifetime members -- nearly all of whom earned that honored status by donating cars and trucks they no longer needed. Some of our donated vehicles are given to struggling single mothers who need usable transporation to get to work or to continue their education. All of the others are resold to raise funds for our various programs.

We offer pickup service for vehicles in northern New Jersey. Elsewhere special arrangements must be made. Cars do not have tp be in running, but the amount you can deduct for a car in running condition is determined by its actual resale value. However, even cars ready for the salvage yard still help our education and intervention efforts.

You will receive a written acknowledgement of your donation when the vehicle is picked up. All donations are tax-deductible and we will provide you with the appropriate IRS documentation at the time of resale. If you would like to donate a car, there is room on the donation form you can download above to provide us with the details. Or use the form below.

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