Memorial and celebration
Good news for vulnerable infants; road trips here and there; a promising bill grinds to a halt in Concord.
This is Memorial Day weekend. I keep in my heart a particular sergeant I never met, Sgt. G., who died in combat in Iraq while serving with my son. My son honors his memory, and therefore I do, too.
News: best, good, and “needs improvement”
The best news to share is that New Hampshire now has a safe haven baby box, installed in Manchester’s central fire station on the Pine Street side. More about that below.
The good news is that pregnancy resource centers throughout New Hampshire continue to work with women and their children (not to mention dads and grandparents as well), offering abortion-free services, support, and referrals in the face of challenging situations.
The bad news, which I’d grade “needs improvement,” is that a bill intended to protect the right of New Hampshire pregnancy resource centers to determine their own missions is dead. The state Senate and House couldn’t agree on terms for HB 1416, and that’s that. (See earlier editions of Braided Trails for more about the bill.) No conference committee. This is with a Republican majority, mind you, so if you need a party to blame, you can take your pick.
But no need for a legislative postmortem. I’d rather look ahead and celebrate the work being done now and in the future in PRCs all over the state. It’ll keep going long after the legislators leave Concord for the summer.
Pregnancy care centers, and shelters with a similar mission, will keep doing what they do best. If there’s any legislative attempt in the future to nudge them in an abortion-friendly direction - and preventing that possibility was what HB 1416 was about - I know the centers’ supporters will rise to the challenge. This year has given us good practice.
Hitting the road
I’ll be headed to Chicago in a few days to participate in a panel at the annual conference of the Catholic Writers Guild. I’m excited to be on a team sharing how writers can add public speaking skills to their toolboxes, letting them reach more readers. Please say a prayer for safe travel for all who attend. I’m looking forward to coming home with some of the latest work published by CWG members. I’ll be sure to share the best with you!
And speaking of hitting the road, I just added Francestown to the list of towns where I’ve walked along trails this year. Yes, the mosquitos are out, but so are the glorious songbirds. So far this spring, I’ve gone from Hinsdale to Swanzey along the Ashuelot trail, and I’ve visited (but not summited) Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey.
I skipped ahead to walk across Goffstown and Manchester, but I’ll soon go back to visit the Peterborough area. I haven’t gotten lost yet on my drives to trailheads, but stay tuned; I’m one wrong turn away from having to knock on someone’s door for directions! I’m posting cross-state hike reports at Granite State Walker.
A community celebrates a new Safe Haven Baby Box
On a drizzly May day, dozens of people gathered in a fire station’s bay in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, in an atmosphere that defied the grey weather. We came for dedication, blessing, gratitude, and remembrance.
The reason was a new installation in the station’s eastern wall: a Safe Haven Baby Box, designed so that an infant can be surrendered anonymously and safely through a door on one side of the box, to receive care and fostering on the other side. The box is designed so that a signal alerts the station’s firefighters when a child is placed inside.
In one way the project was a tribute to Baby Grace, the baby in the pond. In another way it was an act of hope and faith: hope that the box will never be needed, and faith that if it is, a child’s life will be saved.
New Hampshire’s original safe haven law was passed in 2003. Any police station, fire station, hospital, or staffed church can take in an infant surrendered in accordance with the law. Now, the Baby Box offers another way to surrender a baby safely and anonymously.
“Hope and resilience for our entire community.”
First responders were there for the dedication, including some of the police and firefighters who responded when Baby Grace was found in Pine Island Pond. Leaders of Pennacook Pregnancy Center were there; the Center funded the project. Father Jason of nearby St. Joseph Cathedral offered a prayer of blessing. The mayor gave heartfelt remarks.
Silence fell over the firehouse when it was Fire Chief Ryan Cashin’s turn to speak. “Every fire station in the city is a place where the community can feel safe, knowing we are here 24 hours a day, and this Safe Haven Baby Box further demonstrates the commitment by the city of Manchester providing a secure option for vulnerable infants, making this fire station a true Safe Haven. While we cannot change the past, our commitment is to make the future safer and stronger. Today I pray that the efforts by the City of Manchester, Pennacook Pregnancy Center, Safe Haven Baby Boxes [among others]…will inspire hope and resilience for our entire community. I can’t thank everyone here enough.”