Augusta and Rockingham County Fairs
For Life, for God, and for Country!
___________________________________________________________________
“Politics are downstream from the culture, which is downstream from the church, which is downstream from “We the People”. Therefore, the buck stops here, with all of us, and we cannot be silent!” (Rakazzi)
* * * *
Summary: Over 2,000 people visited our Family Forum booths at the Augusta and Rockingham County Fairs over the past three weeks to support our pro-life, pro-family message.
Thanks to everyone who came and especially to the 42 wonderful volunteers who helped make this such an outstanding success for Life, Faith, Family, and Freedom again this year!
* * * *
The Purpose: Our primary goal was to continue affirming and rebuilding a culture of life, especially among the younger generation. To that end, we often invited our visitors to hold one of the life-like “Touch of Life” fetal models that ranged from 12 to 30 weeks in size and development.
The Response: Almost without exception, they did — children, teens, and adults. They then gasped at the clear features of even tinier 7 to10-week-old baby models and also enjoyed watching the playful baby-in-the-womb 3-D ultrasound. It provided a beautiful peek into what we call “Mommy’s Playroom”.
Many of them then took home over 800 of the free 12-week-old “Precious Ones” baby models, 10-week-old “Precious Feet” lapel pins, and a range of pro-life bookmarks and brochures.
If you would like to review and order your own supply of these outstanding materials for display and distribution to family, friends, and civic and church groups, you can do so through Heritage House at www.hh76.org.
Pro-Life or Pro-Choice? Why was all of this so important and so gratifying? It’s simple. Seeing and holding these attractive models reinforce what we all know to be true. This is a life from the moment of conception, and it is for us to cherish and to protect from that time forward.
By contrast, those who claim to be “pro-choice” and yet who support abortion have overlooked an important reality: babies do not “choose” to die. Therefore, we must stand up for those who have no “choice” and no voice but ours.
Get Out the Vote! In addition, with the November 5 elections now just 11 weeks away, we encouraged visitors to be sure they are registered to vote and provided registration forms to fill out and send in if they were not. The deadline to register is Oct. 15.
We also gave them Legislative Report Cards from The Family Foundation that exposed the sharp contrast between Republican and Democratic state legislators in their voting records on key “Family Values” issues. This serves as a very useful reference tool for voting their values in November.
IGWT: Finally, we also had a display of the “In God We Trust” license plate that the Forum promoted and the VA General Assembly approved in 2011 with the help of bill sponsors Del. Dickie Bell and Sen. Mark Obenshain. Since then, the plate has skyrocketed to near the top of over 250 specialty license plates available in Virginia. Laus Deo!
You can purchase the plate at your own local DMV Customer Service Center or order it online at https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/vehicles/#splates/info.asp?idnm=IGWT
New Friends of the Forum! Finally, we were delighted to welcome a number of new visitors who signed up to become a part of the Forum’s free E-Alert network that allows us to stay connected on issues and events as they arise.
If you have friends who may also be interested but are not yet a part of this growing family of Forum partners, please encourage them to sign up, either by e-mail to family@valleyfamilyforum.org or through our website at www.valleyfamilyforum.org.
Thank You! We were delighted to be able to visit with so many of you who stopped by to say “Hello” and to show your interest in and support of this effort.
However, if you were not able to come but would still like to help support this and other Forum activities, you can do so with a tax-deductible check to the Valley Family Forum at PO Box 881, Harrisonburg, VA 22803.
With Appreciation, for God and Country,
Dean