PORTALES, N.M. (BP) – A common ground for helping society’s most vulnerable prompted the gift of a building from New Mexico Baptist Children’s Homes, said NMBCH Executive Director Serenity Richard.
“This gift is not the end of a chapter. It is the continuation of God’s work through new hands and hearts,” Richard pointed out. “We are deeply grateful for what God has done in and through this place, and we are confident that the Pregnancy Resource Center will carry that legacy forward with excellence and grace.”
Representatives from NMBCH and the Pregnancy Resource Center of Eastern New Mexico (PRC) will gather alongside the community on April 8 at 3 p.m. on the Children’s Home campus in Portales for a dedication celebration.
“We are humbled by this extraordinary gift and the deep trust it represents,” said Jessica Van Leuven, executive director of the Pregnancy Resource Center. “We look forward to honoring the building’s history by continuing to provide compassion, hope, and help to every person who walks through our doors.”
The building was originally constructed as a hospital and then used as a doctor’s office. NMBCH purchased it in 2018.
The Children’s Home has two other campuses in addition to the site of the donated building, which previously housed their counseling ministry and Bridge to Hope Christian Job Corps ministry.
“We wanted to bring those services under one roof, which freed up a great location that is well-suited for another ministry,” Richard said. “We considered selling the building, but then we learned that the Pregnancy Resource Center [needed one]. Both ministries help children, and we felt this was a natural way to honor the history of the building where so much ministry has taken place.”
The NMBCH has ministered to thousands of children and families since 1919 through programs including counseling, residential care for those in the foster system, job training, independent living for young adults at no cost and adoption services at “very low cost” for adoption. The Home receives no state or federal funding, as support comes through churches and donors.
This marks the first time the groups have worked together.
“Both ministries are doing powerful work in their respective arenas,” Richard said. “We knew we’d like to see ministry continue within those walls, so when we learned that they were in need of their own building, we wanted to respond with generosity and obedience.”
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