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A Rio Rancho church has started an effort to raise money and garner donations of materials and labor to build a center for a nonprofit agency that provides counseling and support to young women with unplanned pregnancies.
Rio West Community Church plans to build a 2,000-square-foot complex for CareNet Pregnancy Center of Albuquerque on a portion of its five-acre site at 6751 Pasilla Road in northeast Rio Rancho.
CareNet is a faith-based nonprofit agency that has operated in the Albuquerque area since 1983. Its free and confidential services include pregnancy tests, options counseling, parenting classes, ultrasounds, material assistance and post-abortive workshops. The organization has been operating since 2006 in Rio Rancho in office space it leases.
CareNet also has offices in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights, Moriarty and Los Lunas. The centers are typically open 25 to 40 hours per week.
CareNet’s development director, Joan Douglas, said Rio West Community church’s offer of help will benefit clients by reducing operating costs for the Rio Rancho center.
The church has agreed to lease it to CareNet for $1 per year and maintain the building, Pastor Don Schlichte said.
He said the “Home with a Heart” project will be an allvolunteer effort. The church community has secured commitments of about $87,000 in cash, labor and materials from members of its congregation and anonymous donors and is still seeking donations for the project.
“It may literally be a week-by-week proposition,” Schlichte said.
The building plans include three counseling offices, a room for ultrasounds and a conference room. Rio West has submitted the plans to the city of Rio Rancho and is waiting for required permits, Schlichte said. He hopes they can break ground within a few weeks.
Home with a Heart project
WHAT: Rio West Community Church building a counseling and care center for CareNet Pregnancy Center of Albuquerque.
WHERE: 6751 Pasilla Road NE, Rio Rancho
HOW TO HELP: Contact senior pastor Don Schlichte, 771-0284
ABOUT CARENET: www.carenetabq.org
Reprint story -- Email the reporter at rrayburn@abqjournal.com. Call the reporter at 505-823-3831
